The Suffering Of Disabled People In Najib’s 1Malaysia

The Star in ‘Promote paralympics’, says Najib (November 20, 2009) reported Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as saying that the marginalisation of disabled people is prevalent.

“The marginalisation of persons with disabilities is prevalent and in many countries there are few sports opportunities available to them,” Najib added.

On a brighter note, he said there had been increasing support for the participation of persons with disabilities over the past 20 years.

In line with the 1Malaysia concept of “People First, Performance Now”, Najib said it was important to provide opportunities for people from all walks of life, regardless of race, culture and religion.

I am glad Najib realises that. I hope he also meant disabled people in Malaysia when he talked about marginalisation. Disabled people in Malaysia is one of the most marginalised groups in the country. Having been a wheelchair user for the past 25 years, I can say with certainty that the government is still neglecting the needs of disabled people after all these years, irrespective of what Najib said in his opening speech at the 14th International Paralym­pic Committee (IPC) Conference and General Assembly on Thursday.

Not every disabled person can be a paralympian. Neither do many want to be when our struggles with bread and butter issues are never ending. We cannot go to school to get an education. We cannot get gainful employment. We cannot even move around conveniently. Many disabled people have poor quality of life. Many are living in poverty. They have to depend on their family for sustenance and care. Opportunity is a foreign word to them. Excelling in sports is the least of our worries when we have so many more pressing matters to worry about.

Every now and then, the government will promise to resolve the problems of inaccessibility in the built environment and public transport. All these are just empty talk. Nothing has been done to address these issues seriously. Look at the street environment around you. Are these places safe for blind people and wheelchair users to traverse? Look at RapidKL. Three years after they promised to make their buses accessible, disabled people still cannot board the buses. Likewise Rapid Penang.

Disabled people have met with former Parlimentary Secretary of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun who is now the Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, Deputy Minister of Finance Datuk Seri Dr. Ng Yen Yen who later became the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development and now the Minister of Tourism, former Minister of Transport Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy and current Minister of Transport Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat. Even the Prime Minister’s wife Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor mentioned about the plight of disabled people and public transport.

There were promises. There were excuses. And then there were more promises. Still, nothing happened. Disabled people advocating for accessible public transport and barrier-free environment is still being given the runaround. Dear Datuk Seri Najib, please show us where the increasing support for our participation in society is. My disabled friends and I still feel very neglected.

The Star Online
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Friday November 20, 2009
‘Promote paralympics’, says Najib

KUALA LUMPUR: Voluntary organisations, the corporate sector and disabled athletes should work together to promote the paralympic movement, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said Malaysian sports leaders were playing significant roles in the Asean, Asian and world paralympic movement.
Sticking together: Hong Kong athlete Yu Chui Yee accompanying Sidkova Marketa from the Czech Republic at the opening of the 14th International Paralympic Committee general assembly and conference in Kuala Lumpur Thursday.

“This is in recognition of Malaysia’s capabilities in championing the paralympic movement,” he said.

Asked whether Malaysia would host the Paralympic Games, he said that if the country were to do so, it would have to be chosen for the main Olympic Games, “which is a tall order”.

“It will not happen in the foreseeable future. You have to be a strong sports nation, make an impact and be a force to be reckoned with at the global level to be considered,” he said at the opening of the 14th International Paralym­pic Committee general assembly and conference here yesterday.

The United Nations estimates that there are about 500 million persons with disabilities in the world, the majority in developing countries, he said.

“The marginalisation of persons with disabilities is prevalent and in many countries there are few sports opportunities available to them,” Najib added.

On a brighter note, he said there had been increasing support for the participation of persons with disabilities over the past 20 years.

In line with the 1Malaysia concept of “People First, Performance Now”, Najib said it was important to provide opportunities for people from all walks of life, regardless of race, culture and religion.

Disabled Persons And Employment

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s call that disabled persons be given employment opportunities is most welcomed. God knows how difficult it is for disabled persons to get jobs with remunerations that commensurate with our qualifications. Those who are able to obtain jobs have to face another set of challenges in the form of physical and attitudinal barriers. The context of this entry emphasizes on wheelchair users and people with mobility impairment more as I am one of them and very familiar with problems that they face.

Getting disabled persons employed is the ultimate goal here. How we reach that goal is equally important. The government must look at the process of getting disabled persons academically qualified before we can be employed. Schools must be accessible. To get disabled persons to schools, public transport must be accessible. The built environment must be accessible to ease the movement of disabled persons going to school and to work. Each step in the process leading to disabled persons being gainfully employed is inseparable. Therefore the approach has to be holistic rather than piecemeal. One cannot exist without the other.

Private corporations are doing their part by employing disabled persons. I am aware that some multinationals made it a point to include accessible facilities in the form of ramps and larger toilets in their premises. They are the exception, not the norm. The government too must play their part by ensuring that the infrastructure is ready to support disabled persons seeking skills to make themselves employable. This can be achieved through legislation and enforcement, and incentives.

The government has allocated a quota of 1% for employing disabled persons in the public sector through Civil Service Circular No. 10 for Year 1998 (Pekeliling Perkhidmatan Bil. 10 Tahun 1998). However, disabled persons working in the public sector amounted to only 0.2% according to Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Paduka Chew Mei Fun quoted in Bernama on February 2, 2007.

In the same report, she also stated that up to April last year, of the 160,000 disabled persons registered with the Department of Social Welfare, only 1% were hired by the private and public sector. 1,600 have found employment in the private sector and 325 in the public sector. The reason given was that there is a lack of information on the facilities needed by disabled persons who seek employment. If this is so, the government should lead by example by first ensuring that facilities in all government buildings are fully accessible and employ more disabled persons in the public sector. The call for a caring society must first begin from the government – kepimpinan melalui teladan.

Hoping for Miracles Ala Machap and Ijok

During the pre-launch of RapidKL’s accessible buses, Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development Parlimentary Secretary Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fen “encouraged BEAT (Barrier-Free Environment and Accessible Transport Group) and the disabled to work with architects, developers, engineers and contractors to better the disabled-friendly facilities of future projects.” (The Star – May 4, 2007: RapidKL to operate 100 buses with accessible facilities)

BEAT has been working with RapidKL since September 2006. With the impending introduction of the accessible buses, BEAT has also been working with a couple of local authorities to ensure that the heights of the accessible buses and the bus stops match and that all connecting pathways are barrier-free. Members of BEAT will also be sitting in a committee chaired by the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Transport to iron out issues on public transportation in Malaysia.

Many of the members of advocating under BEAT are employed full-time in the private sector and are contributing whatever free time they have to this advocacy movement. Our manpower and resources are stretched very thin. Whatever expenses that we incur in the course of BEAT’s activities come out from our own pockets. We are not complaining though. On the other hand, we hope that the government will do their part by ensuring that infrastructure and facilities are properly done the first time around. This can be achieved by adhering to the requirements of the Uniform Building By-Law 34 which stipulates that the “by-law shall be deemed to be satisfied by compliance with Malaysian Standard MS 1184 and MS 1183.”

The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has a specialised section with a team of officers within the Department of Social Welfare to manage the affairs of disabled persons called the Bahagian OKU Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia. This section should keep up to its namesake to ensure that issues related to disabled persons are addressed and resolved.

It was highly inappropriate to suggest that BEAT, or disabled persons for that matter, do the work that the government has already assigned a specific ministry or several other ministries to look after. Disabled persons cannot be taking leave from work every now and then to run all over Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya to liaise with ministers, government officers, transport operators, architects, developers, engineers and contractors to get things done properly. It is the government’s job to do that.

As it is, our mobility is already severely restricted due to the unavailability of an accessible urban public transport system which in turn hampers our opportunity to participate in educational, employment, social, cultural, religious and political activities. It is a gross injustice against the dignity of disabled persons as citizens with equitable rights to have to solve the problems that restricts our movement and growth at our own expense. In the first place, these barriers were created by various parties including the government.

It is high time the various ministries work together seriously to resolve all the outstanding issues related to disabled persons instead of pushing the buck around. The government is supposed to solve problems, not create it. Politicians and wakil rakyats were elected to solve problems faced by the electorate, not push it back to the electorates to solve it themselves. Perhaps disabled persons can see miracles ala Machap and Ijok where projects will be approved and completed post-haste during the General Election? Apa macam Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun?