Senator: Community deserves better, ditch 'kurang upaya' term

 

INTERVIEW | Just over a year ago, long-time PKR member Isaiah Jacob was sworn in as a member of the Dewan Negara.

He took the mantle of representing the specially abled community from the likes of former newscaster Ras Adiba Radzi and her predecessor, Bathmavathi Krishnan.

While Dewan Negara members are not as visible as their counterparts from Dewan Rakyat, he is determined to make his presence felt and make a difference for the nearly 600,000 Malaysians registered with the Social Welfare Department as persons with disabilities.

On April 3 last year, Isaiah, who was born with a congenital hip dislocation, made news when his fellow senators stood on one leg for one minute in solidarity after he concluded his debate on the Supply Bill 2023 - in which he touched on the welfare and empowerment of the specially abled.

“I am opposed to the term ‘orang kurang upaya’ (persons who are less able) to describe my community. I am against that, because by using those words you are demoralising a person and stigmatising them.

“I see us as specially abled not disabled. I don’t want my community to be treated that way and looked upon with the mindset that we are not useful to the country and get demotivated,” he told Malaysiakini.

Isaiah said when he asked his fellow Dewan Negara representatives to stand on one leg for a minute, he had just finished standing on one leg for 15 minutes to deliver the speech. He wished for them to understand that in his community, it was common to make extraordinary efforts to achieve what others might take for granted.

“My humble request to Malaysians is don’t feel sorry for my community. Try to think of us as people who are special, deserve rights, and will fight extra.

“To my community, I say we shouldn’t live on sympathy, we have talents and we have to come out and be independent,” said Isaiah, adding he likes to stick to the term “specially abled persons” although some may disapprove.

V David connection

Isaiah’s illustrious cousin is none other than the legendary opposition figure V David, who was both a trade unionist and an MP who had represented Bangsar, Dato' Kramat, Damansara, and Puchong constituencies.

Although David was his cousin, Isaiah grew up calling the former “uncle” as the senator was 34 years younger.

“My father and my uncle told me - don’t think of yourself as disabled. Maybe you are created this way to fight for others.

“I don’t want others to go through what I have gone through,” he said adding that he was constantly teased with the term “nondhi” (Tamil word for lame) at school.

Isaiah also recalled a time when he was the only student not taken on a class trip, while as an adult, he secured a business administration diploma only to be rejected by 63 companies due to his condition.

“That’s why for 25 years in the party, I have always brought up issues affecting the community,” he added.

As for the late David, he was first elected to the Dewan Rakyat in 1959 under the Labour Party/Socialist Front before returning to Parliament in 1969 as a member of Gerakan.

He left the party after it became part of BN to join Pekemas, before eventually finding a home in the DAP.

Isaiah followed a similar path of activism, once even losing his job for his political leanings.

“I was a member of DAP when I was younger, in support of my uncle. However, when Anwar Ibrahim was sacked from the government in 1998 and mistreated, I changed.

“I also didn’t like Anwar at that time but I could not accept such treatment and injustice because of accusations about his personal life.

“I joined PKN (Parti Keadilan Nasional) when it was formed, and it later became PKR. To this day, I go out to the maximum for him, that’s why in Sept 2017, I went 51 days without food and walked from Penang to Kuala Lumpur in the "Free Anwar, Save Malaysia" campaign.

Isaiah was no stranger to such protests, having also made a 308km trek from Kuala Lumpur to Gebeng, Kuantan in a symbolic protest against the controversial Lynas rare earth processing plant in June 2014.

Chance to make a difference

Now that Isaiah has been entrusted with the responsibility of representing his community, he is determined not to take things easy. He had set up an office at Jalan Ampang Putra in Ampang to serve as a service centre.

“We also have a legal team that is on the verge of suing the local councils for not having enough parking bays being allocated for the specially abled. There are cases where we studied the draft plan and see the spots that were marked out got removed. I have also spoken to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa about this issue,” he said.

“In the past year, I can say I noticed some things that are lacking in the community too, so we can’t put all the blame on the government. The collaboration between specially abled people and the government is lacking.

“I want to help bring us together and return our rights to us. There are five pillars of government responsibility for education, job opportunities, transportation, medical care, and welfare aid in the form of monetary allowance. This is something we need to do,” he added.

Isaiah said that it was his dream to create an academy for specially abled persons to develop skills and talents.

He did warn, however, that there were too many groups and societies claiming to represent the community.

“Up to March 30, there were almost 600,000 registered as OKU with the Welfare Department. This covers seven main categories - hearing, visual, speaking, physical, learning, mental, and multiple disabilities. For this, there are thousands of NGOs!

“If this goes on, the government will ignore us, claiming we are not united and it’s too difficult to come to an agreement on what is needed,” he said.

Small steps, long journey

Isaiah pointed to the doubling of the Pemulihan Dalam Komuniti (PDK) monthly allowance from RM150 to RM300 as a tangible improvement he was able to help usher in.

Nonetheless, he said that aspects of the PDK system had been virtually abandoned and vowed to resurrect it.

He also highlighted the OKU Smile pass with which the community has also been able to enjoy free train and bus rides for services provided by Prasarana Malaysia Bhd (Prasarana) since Feb 1 this year.

Touching on the Central Database Hub (Padu), Isaiah conceded that while it is potentially a good system in terms of streamlining the bureaucracy and improving welfare distribution, there were weaknesses in the way it was rolled out to the grassroots.

On other improvements for his community, Isaiah said some policy changes and legislation could also make a difference.

“We cannot depend on companies or businesses to accommodate the community, we need the legality of requirements.

“If you have a company employing 50 people, and suddenly someone with a wheelchair joins, you need to upgrade facilities and add costs.

“But now technology has improved and we can stay at home and work online, so let’s try to improve opportunities in this way and give benefits to employers,” Isaiah said, adding that he had just had an offer from the hotel industry to provide the community with jobs under a project that would start in May.

Still, he said, there were many basic changes that needed to be made, saying that while at school and college, he often had to climb three floors to get to class and that there were no toilets with special facilities.

Dewan Negara reform

When asked about the possibility of having elected Dewan Negara members, Isaiah questioned if such costly elections were needed.

He did, however, concede that it was a weak point that those defeated in parliamentary elections were often just placed in the Senate as a backup.

“This is a weak point, to have the Dewan Negara as a Plan B for defeated politicians. We must pick senators who are capable and have good professional skills or are able to represent minority and special interest groups who can’t get elected into Dewan Rakyat due to numbers.

“I think currently, the Dewan Negara is something that most Malaysians do not know about and think of it as a rubber stamp - which it maybe was during the BN era. That must change,” he said.

To that end, Isaiah suggested other reforms in politics like a two-term limit for all positions.

“That’s why I was sad and ashamed to see former Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy take his current route. He had three terms and could have retired quietly.

“I believe you can help the Indian population without splitting us with many different ‘Indian-only’ parties. If the leaders come and split us, at the end of the day, poor people will suffer.

“Enough is enough. We are a small community and should put aside our differences and look at the future of our children and grandchildren,” he stressed. - Mkini