The Government is currently developing a strategic energy policy planning document that will serve as a guide for mapping national energy needs and planning energy provision over the next ten years. This document will be formulated as the National Energy General Plan (Rencana Umum Energi Nasional/RUEN) 2026–2035, which is required to be issued no later than October 2026. As a policy framework that integrates national energy needs and energy supply planning for the next decade, RUEN holds a significant position.
Energy is a basic necessity in everyday life. It enables people to live, work, and participate in society. Therefore, energy planning must ensure that the benefits of energy are accessible to everyone while identifying potential risks arising from changes in the energy system. This is why the process of developing RUEN is important, particularly given the direction of national energy policy and the various dynamics and developments surrounding it. Based on monitoring conducted by the National Commission on Disability (Komisi Nasional Disabilitas/KND), as the national human rights institution specifically mandated to address the rights of persons with disabilities, neither KND nor Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) have been involved in the development of RUEN to date.
Persons with disabilities are among the vulnerable groups whose existence is often not adequately considered across various aspects of life, including the energy sector. This is partly due to the negative stigma that persons with disabilities continue to face from various parties. KND has identified the elimination of negative stigma against persons with disabilities as one of its six priority issues for the 2021–2026 period. The issue of stigma is accompanied by challenges related to disability data, which has yet to be comprehensively consolidated at the national level. Nevertheless, steps toward establishing a national disability data system have been taken. Disaggregated data on persons with disabilities is crucial to ensuring the fulfillment of their rights across different sectors of life.
Stigma against persons with disabilities is not merely a matter of prejudice, but a systemic barrier that deprives persons with disabilities of their fundamental rights and marginalizes them at various levels of society. In one aspect of formal legal requirements, persons with disabilities are often confronted with the notion that they do not possess “physical and mental health.” The terminology of being physically and mentally healthy is used as a requirement in various recruitment processes, including employment, education, and public positions. This automatically excludes persons with disabilities before they are even able to enter the selection process. Yet the transition toward clean energy and the creation of numerous green jobs should also be accessible to persons with disabilities. Realizing this requires affirmative policies to ensure that persons with disabilities can access such opportunities.
The “charity” approach represents one of the darker sides of stigma against persons with disabilities, as it views them merely as objects of charity or goodwill. Providing access to education, healthcare, employment opportunities, and other services should be based on the fulfillment of human rights that must be guaranteed fairly and equally for persons with and without disabilities, rather than on charity. Alongside this, assumptions of incompetence are also frequently associated with disability. This limits many opportunities for persons with disabilities to work, grow, and develop themselves.
Various forms of stigma against persons with disabilities increase their vulnerability to extreme poverty due to limited access to decent work. Persons with disabilities also face barriers to participating in public and political spaces, resulting in state policies that lack an inclusive disability perspective. The energy sector is one example. Disability issues are often absent from discussions, while energy discourse generally focuses on investment, power generation capacity, energy transition, energy mix, technology, and economic development. This unintentionally reinforces negative stigma against persons with disabilities. This approach needs to change so that persons with disabilities can enjoy justice and equality, ultimately helping to address the disadvantages they have experienced for decades.
Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) is a strategic framework and approach for implementing international human rights principles that have been ratified by Indonesia and should be applied across policies. One of the core principles of GEDSI is that “no one should be left behind.”
As a strategic planning document, RUEN needs to apply the principle of social justice for all, including persons with disabilities. Facilities and infrastructure supporting the energy transition, such as Public Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (SPKLU), energy service centers, and other facilities, should be developed using inclusive infrastructure standards so that they can be accessed and used effectively by everyone, including persons with disabilities. This is one way to uphold the principle of justice and eliminate negative stigma against persons with disabilities by ensuring their meaningful presence in public spaces.
The meaningful participation of persons with disabilities and/or OPDs in the development of RUEN is therefore essential. Such participation recognizes persons with disabilities as experts on their own lived experiences and disability-related conditions, enabling them to provide valuable input on how national energy planning and energy provision can be designed in a fair and equitable manner and generate positive impacts for persons with disabilities. At the same time, persons with disabilities can contribute to the monitoring and evaluation of national energy planning and implementation, ensuring that no groups are harmed or excluded from the benefits of RUEN.
Disability also affects the additional costs that persons with disabilities must bear in their daily lives, commonly referred to as disability extra costs. Persons with disabilities may incur approximately 20% higher living costs compared with persons without disabilities. This is because many persons with disabilities need assistive devices, which may require regular maintenance or replacement of parts due to continuous use. Some persons with disabilities or their families also need to spend additional resources on medication or therapy. Others may need to travel or carry out daily activities with the assistance of caregivers, as well as incur other additional costs associated with their disabilities.
Based on these circumstances, the principle of energy justice that should be applied to persons with disabilities is energy tariff justice, including concessions, price reductions, or discounts of at least 20%, in accordance with Government Regulation No. 31 of 2026 on Concessions for Persons with Disabilities and Incentives for Companies.
Persons with disabilities are also among the groups that are highly vulnerable to the impacts of development in the energy sector. Accessibility of information and communication is one of the factors contributing to this vulnerability. Duty bearers, including those working in the energy sector, often lack an adequate understanding of how information and communication should be delivered and received by people with different types of disabilities, each of whom may have specific conditions and require specific methods to receive and understand information.
Limited access to information affects persons with disabilities’ understanding of energy-related issues, including what actions they should take in the event of an emergency or disaster. The physical, psychological, and other specific conditions experienced by persons with disabilities can increase their vulnerability when disasters occur as a result of energy-sector development. Therefore, disability-inclusive disaster risk mitigation is an important element that must be incorporated into RUEN.
Based on the above considerations, and in accordance with KND’s mandate to monitor, evaluate, and advocate for the implementation of respect for, protection of, and fulfillment of the rights of persons with disabilities, KND submits the following recommendations regarding RUEN 2026–2035 to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) and the National Energy Council (Dewan Energi Nasional/DEN):
- Ensure the meaningful participation of persons with disabilities and/or OPDs in a just energy transition, including in public consultations during the development, implementation, and evaluation of RUEN, as well as in vocational training and employment opportunities in the energy sector;
- Guarantee the affordability and accessibility of inclusive energy services, including the implementation of the mandate under Government Regulation No. 31 of 2026 on concessions for persons with disabilities and incentives for companies;
- Ensure protection against energy-related disasters through disability-inclusive disaster risk mitigation;
- Establish inclusive data governance and regulations within RUEN, and incorporate indicators on the fulfillment of the rights of persons with disabilities into performance measurement instruments for the energy sector.
Dr. Dante Rigmalia, M.Pd.
Chairperson, National Commission on Disability (KND)