Multicultural approach vital in dealing with HIV<\/p>\n
On the sidelines of a seminar in Jakarta last week, Marina
\nMahathir, President of the Malaysian AIDS Council talked to The
\nJakarta Post's M. Taufiqurrahman last week about how reluctance
\nto address the issue of multiculturism had aggravated the
\nproblems of AIDS in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Questions: How do you relate AIDS to the concept of
\nmulticulturalism?<\/p>\n
Answer: I think it is very much a part of it, because Malaysia
\nparticularly, is a multicultural country and AIDS affects
\ndifferent groups in a different way. Whether culture is an
\nelement in the vulnerability is a question. And it is a question
\nthat people don't really want to touch. For instance, in Malaysia
\nthe largest group affected by HIV are Malays and by extension
\nMuslims, a lot of that is related to drug use.<\/p>\n
There are disproportionate numbers of Malays who are involved
\nin drug use. Again, this is an issue that nobody approaches from
\na religious or cultural point of view, whether there is a
\nconnection between the Malay culture or Muslim religion that
\nmakes them vulnerable to drug use and therefore HIV.<\/p>\n
This is not explored out of fear that it tell you about the
\nwrong things in the society. We can only speculate why in a
\nMuslim country, there are Muslims who are vulnerable to drug use
\nand HIV. That is a question that needs to be answered, but nobody
\nwants to address it.<\/p>\n
In a conservative society like Malaysia, how serious is the
\nAIDS problem?<\/p>\n
It is a serious problem. The perception that Malaysia is a
\nconservative society is the official view of the government,
\nwhether it is true or not depends on how you define conservatism.
\nFrom my point of view, and that of the non-governmental
\norganizations working at the grassroots level having dealt with
\ndrug abuse and HIV, Malaysia is not at all a conservative
\nsociety. The AIDS problem is a growing one. It is very hard to
\nsay whether it is serious or not, but we are concerned because it
\nhas been growing steadily over the past 20 years.<\/p>\n
It has been growing faster now, meaning that every year there
\nare new people infected, which suggests that prevention measures
\nwe are taking are not effective. Why is that, perhaps because we
\nare not doing the right type of prevention, perhaps there are
\ndeterrents to the right prevention method.<\/p>\n
Officially it is consider a conservative society, and
\ntherefore with respect to the sensitivities of supposedly
\nconservative people, we cannot talk about condoms, and at the
\nsame time how do people protect themselves if you are not giving
\nthem the means to do so. People are not behaving in a
\nconservative way, but we insist that we don't want to offend the
\npeople who are living in a conservative way. It is contradictory.<\/p>\n
How has such conservatism hampered the fight against AIDS?<\/p>\n
There are indeed people who are conservative, the people who
\ndon't know anything, the one who sit in their offices who never
\ngo out. Religious leaders, we assume that they are conservative
\nin the sense that they hinder the things that we want to do. We
\nhave trained religious leaders around the country and found that
\nthey are not conservative in the sense that they are willing to
\nface reality, not least because they are already facing it.<\/p>\n
They already know what is happening, they know that something
\nterrible happens at the grassroots level but they are not
\nequipped with the knowledge to deal with it. They then revert to
\nthe same old things that they were taught. However, they then
\nbegin to see that we are partnering with them to help them do
\ntheir work and that means we can move forward and as long as
\npeople are in touch with reality, it is not so difficult.<\/p>\n
How far have women gained a public roles and in the fight
\nagainst AIDS?<\/p>\n
Women in social life are very much out there in public life,
\n60 percent of university students are women and women also hold
\nhigh positions in the Cabinet, the central bank etc. etc. Public
\nlife is not an issue anymore. What matters for us really is the
\nprivate sphere, especially in terms of Islamic law, the rights to
\ncontrol our own private life, including the right to own our own
\nbody, the right to determine the course of our lives, rather than
\nhaving it determined by others.<\/p>\n
In terms of AIDS, the most invisible population right now is
\nreally the women who are affected and infected by AIDS. We have
\nbeen talking about AIDS for years, but we always talked about
\ndrug users, gay men and if we talked about women it was always
\nabout sex workers. There has been neglect about the vulnerability
\nof women and only now we are beginning to see a sharp rise in
\nwomen getting infected, which is already alarming.<\/p>\n
What do Indonesia and Malaysia have in common in terms of
\nAIDS?<\/p>\n
One of the things that we have in common is drug problems. In
\nMalaysia, the drug problem is a growing one and HIV is following
\nvery fast and in Jakarta 50 percent of drug users are infected
\nvery quickly. It is happening far more rapidly in Indonesia, and
\nit is very serious. On the solution side, I think what we have in
\ncommon is that there is the possibility of harnessing religious
\nleaders to help. We think that the training that we have been
\ngiving to religious leaders is something that we can share.<\/p>\n
And what we can learn from you is that you are tackling HIV
\namong drug users in a far better way than we are, far more
\nrealistically. I know that the harm reduction program is being
\ninstituted and supported by the government, which is very good.
\nAnd we are using Indonesia's example as well as countries like
\nIran or Bangladesh as examples of Muslim countries that are
\ninstituting a harm reduction program for drug users. Because
\nearlier, the argument that we used against the method was that it
\nwas un-Islamic.<\/p>\n
How far has your campaign progressed in an Islamic state like
\nKelantan?<\/p>\n
In Kelantan, it is a total denial at the official level.
\nActually a lot of our problems arise in Kelantan and Trengganu,
\non the east coast. In the regions, there is a lot of HIV cases
\nand a lot of drug use and I think it is related to the slower
\neconomic development in those states. Whether the slower
\ndevelopment is also related to the type of government that they
\nhave is another issue.<\/p>\n
However, you need to deal HIV in a holistic manner, it is not
\njust a medical issue, if you don't deal with structural reasons
\nwhy people become vulnerable, you are never going to deal with
\nit.<\/p>",
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