Disabled community expresses doubt about law

NST Online » Local News 2008/12/24




Disabled community expresses doubt about law


KUALA LUMPUR: Various non-governmental organisations and activists remain sceptical that the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Act will have the desired results.

Independent Living and Training Centre president Francis Siva is one of those not convinced about the effectiveness of the act.

"There will be nothing to affect our lives.

"We will still be left out for the next 20 years," said Francis, a wheelchair user.

"You can take this act and chuck it in the dustbin. It does not penalise anyone who discriminates."

He cited the Uniform Building By-Law 34A which has been implemented decades ago, spelling the need for buildings to be disabled-friendly.

"Nothing much has changed since then. How different is this PWD Act?"

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said her ministry was aware of this and had taken to task various local councils, including a meeting held recently to brief them about the act.

"We have also worked with the Public Service Department to increase the recruitment of more disabled people."

However, Francis said the problems of the disabled may just be too large for her to handle alone.

"Even if the employers do not discriminate, PWDs still need disabled-friendly public transport to get to work. For that, you need disabled-friendly pavements."

I am lucky that I have only become disabled later in life, after obtaining an education.

"What about those who were disabled since they were born? They cannot leave the house at all and are deprived of a normal education."

Peter Tan, a wheelchair user who has a disabled empowerment blog, "Digital Awakening", struck a more optimistic line.

"To be fair to those involved in the act and the council which were only implemented, it is still too early to say whether the act is useful or not. But as long as there is no penalty, people just won't be bothered with it."

Doing more for the disabled

Thursday January 1, 2009


Doing more for the disabled
WHEEL POWER
BY ANTHONY THANASAYAN

HAPPY 2009 to one and all! The events of 2008 have gone down in my record book as the most unexpected and remarkable that I have ever experienced.

I hadn’t the faintest idea then that within half a year after the chiming of last year’s New Year bells, I would end up as a local councillor for Petaling Jaya, a city which I love.

Of late, like the other councillors, I have also been blessed with a personal assistant, courtesy of the Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ).

I am happy to say that the MBPJ has given me several opportunities to make a difference in the lives of disabled residents in PJ.

I head a disability committee with a team of experts (many of them have disabilities themselves) which look into various issues affecting the lives of the disabled.

New buildings in PJ, for instance, must come to our committee first to be screened for disabled-friendly access before they go to a higher level of the council. We are also currently working on guidelines to improve the quality of care for the elderly, and access for the disabled in homes throughout PJ.

However, I must admit that not all is as smooth sailing.

The first was building a wheelchair ramp for a frail and elderly man in a condominium. The developer was all for it but the local residents’ association was against it. The ramp, they said, would “spoil the beauty of the condo”.

What surprised me was that the lady who said this was in her 60s.

Did she ever stop to think that she – or the rest of the association members – could one day find the ramp a life-saver in their advancing years?

We ran afoul of some people in my neighbourhood, this time, when the MBPJ built a special wheelchair access into our public park.

For a number of years, access for wheelchairs had been barred because of a locked gate. Some people in the local residents’ association didn’t want motorcycles to enter or exit for fear of snatch thieves. They didn’t care that their action of closing up the entrance had stopped a number of elderly and disabled persons from entering the park until the MBPJ intervened.

The present wheelchair access is so cleverly designed that motorcycles cannot go through it.
Motorcyclists will literally have to carry their vehicles on their shoulders to get them across.

The biggest difference yet that the MBPJ is working on now is to provide as many as 150 disabled-friendly car parks in the city. The first one was successfully launched at the MBPJ headquarters last week.

It is located next to the entrance of the building and is a fully covered shelter. Some asked if the facility will be underused. That is not only a very outdated way of thinking in this day and age, it is essentially a wrong question for anyone to ask.

With the increasing population of elderly persons and the number of people with disabilities, the right question that we should be asking is whether we will have enough parking bays for the disabled in the near future.

For now, MBPJ has promised to cover at least 20 of its 150 car parks for the disabled in PJ. The council hopes to get sponsors to cover up the rest.

The entire project is expected to be completed by June next year.

Ahli Majlis bantah tindakan sita

Jumaat 02-1-2009

Ahli Majlis bantah tindakan sita

BANDAR COUNTRY HOMES – Tindakan pihak Jabatan Penguat Kuasa Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (MPS) yang sepatutnya menyita sebuah premis perniagaan homestay ala ‘resort’ eksklusif tanpa lesen, kelmarin, mendapat bantahan Ahli Majlis MPS, P Gurdip Kaur, apabila beliau mempertahankan supaya tindakan berkenaan tidak diteruskan.

Pengarah Jabatan Penguat Kuasa MPS, Ahmad Faisal Badiuzaman berkata, Gurdip telah memohon pertimbangan pihaknya supaya dapat menangguhkan tindakan sita berkenaan memandangkan pengusaha premis terbabit merupakan orang kurang upaya (OKU), selain berjanji akan membantu keperluan pengusaha wanita berkenaan supaya dapat meneruskan perniagaan secara sah.

Menurut Faizal, bagaimanapun pihaknya tetap mengambil tindakan tegas mengeluarkan arahan kepada pengusaha premis yang terletak di Jalan Desa 6/7, Bandar Country Homes berkenaan supaya menghentikan aktiviti perniagaan sehingga mendapat kelulusan yang sah daripada MPS dan pihak berkenaan.

“Kali pertama sebelum ini pun kita telah menasihatkan pihak pengusaha supaya mengambil berat aduan yang kita terima daripada penduduk sekitar selain beberapa kesalahan yang melanggar arahan kelulusan premis.

“Oleh sebab terdapat peraturan yang tidak dipatuhi, kali kedua operasi selain kesalahan tidak mengikut pelan asal bangunan sebelumnya, kita juga telah mengambil tindakan kompaun sebanyak RM12,500 atas kesalahan menyalah guna tempat kediaman menjadi hotel. Untuk itu, operasi kali ketiga ini (kelmarin), disebabkan kesalahan masih dikesan, sepatutnya kita akan buat sitaan setelah mendapat arahan pihak atasan,” katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian ketika menjalankan operasi berkenaan yang disertai sekitar 50 orang anggota penguat kuasa MPS.

Bagaimanapun, menurutnya, semasa operasi dilakukan, didapati tiada aktiviti perniagaan yang dijalankan.

Sementara itu, menolak dirinya menyekat tugas penguat kuasa MPS, Gurdip ketika diminta mengulas perkara tersebut mendakwa, beliau membantu pengusaha berkenaan menghadapi tindakan tempoh hari berikutan terpanggil untuk berbuat demikian.

“Bagi saya ini perkara mudah. Sebagai ahli majlis, seorang wanita dan terlibat secara langsung membantu golongan OKU, saya merasakan wajar bagi pengusaha tersebut diberi peluang untuk meneruskan usahanya selain beliau sendiri telah menunjukkan tanggungjawab sejak mula diberi notis oleh MPS untuk memperbaiki kesalahan yang dilakukan.

“Saya percaya tindakan beliau seterusnya selepas ini pasti akan mengikut peraturan yang ditetapkan oleh pihak berkenaan. Mungkin beliau terpaksa mengambil masa berikutan tidak tahu prosedur yang sepatutnya.

Disebabkan itu, saya sendiri mengambil inisiatif menjadi penjamin supaya beliau tidak ulangi kesilapan dan mengikut saluran yang betul untuk teruskan usahanya. Lagipun saya tidak nampak aktiviti haram yang tidak sepatutnya berlaku di situ,” katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian berikutan usaha pemilik berkenaan yang dikatakan sanggup memperuntukkan sejumlah wang yang besar untuk merobohkan bangunan yang disambung tanpa mengikut pelan asal, membuktikan usahanya untuk mengikut peraturan sepatutnya yang telah ditetapkan pihak MPS.

Mengulas lanjut berhubung aduan penduduk sekitar mengenai premis tiga tingkat yang lengkap dengan pelbagai kemudahan itu, Gurdip mendakwa, ia berikutan segelintir pihak yang berkemungkinan tidak berpuas hati apabila melihat kesenangan orang lain.

“Saya tidak berniat menyalahkan MPS atau pun sesiapa sahaja dalam hal ini. Sebaliknya saya difahamkan, mereka (penguat kuasa MPS) hanya datang ke sini, tidak sampai 14 hari selepas notis berkenaan diberikan,” katanya.

Terdahulu, pengusaha yang menjadikan kediamannya sebagai homestay bersama suaminya seorang warganegara Singapura cuba memberikan penjelasan kepada wakil MPS, sebelum bertindak menghubungi Gurdip untuk hadir ke premis terbabit apabila tidak berpuas hati dengan pihak penguat kuasa setelah dimaklumkan tujuan untuk menyita barangan di premisnya.