AIDS decimating two Papuan tribes

AIDS decimating two Papuan tribes

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post/Jayapura

Around 500 locals and religious leaders staged a rally around the
Provincial legislature in Jayapura, the capital of Papua
province, protesting the prolonged supply of liquor and sex
workers with HIV/AIDS from other provinces that has infected many
people in the southern part of the country's easternmost
province.

The demonstrators marched around the building while holding
banners reading: Grill and prosecute security apparatus involved
in the Mappi case, The Indonesian Military is the protector of
the people, not the killer of the people and AIDS has claimed
many lives in Papua.

They said that the fatal disease could infect all Papuan
people and ultimately exterminate backward Papuan tribes, unless
concrete measures were taken to control the fast spread of the
disease.

Corrupt security personnel have been accused of supplying
liquor and sex workers from Java and Sulawesi to locals in Assue
in their bid to collect the prized wood gaharu (a type of
fragrant wood) in the regency. The sex workers with HIV/AIDS have
contributed to the spread of the fatal disease in the regency.

The Forum of Care for Assue, which organized the mass rally,
called on the government to stop the sale of liquor and gambling
and prostitution in Mappi regency, which has damaged social life
over the last 10 years.

So far, 35 people with AIDS have been detected while many more
with HIV have gone undetected because of their isolation in
remote areas in the regency.

Rev. Yus Felix Wewengkang, director of Solidarity, Justice and
Peace in Merauke Diocese, warned that the Awyu and Wiyagar tribes
inhabiting the newly formed regency would be eliminated within
five to 10 years because of the fast spread of HIV unless
concrete measures were immediately taken.

The Mappi issue has attracted the concern of local churches
and non-governmental organizations as the local government has
turned a blind eye to the issue.

"In the 1,900 square-kilometer Assue subdistrict with 15
villages and a total population of 9,500, there are 12 bars and
entertainment centers offering many kinds of liquor, sex workers
and gambling machines," said Rev. Wewengkang.

Local activists have blamed the gaharu trade for the inflow of
liquor and sex workers in the regency.

Hundreds of ships from Java, Sulawesi and Malaysia have come
almost every month since 1995 to the regency to supply gaharu
gatherers and to transport the high-priced commodity to be
supplied to the international market.

Over the last few years, the business has been backed by
unauthorized security personnel who usually offered prostitutes,
many of whom have HIV/AIDS, to gain support for the business from
tribal chiefs and informal leaders in the regency.

Many people who earn from the sale of gaharu, frequent the
entertainment centers and bars offering prostitutes.

The sex workers who come from Surabaya, Manado, Timika and
Agats often go to villages in remote areas to offer their
services to locals and gaharu gatherers.

Jacobus Yufu, a tribal chief in Assue, lamented the poor
condition in his hometown, saying that gaharu's fame has
destroyed traditional values in Mappi and trapped local people
into illicit sex with the inevitable consequence of the fast
spread of HIV/AIDS in the regency.

He called on the government to prohibit the collection of the
precious wood and the sale of liquor and to close down
entertainment centers in the regency.

People with HIV/AIDS have also been detected in neighboring
regencies Merauke and Timika, giving the province the highest
rank in the spread of the disease in the country. According to
the recent study, the number of people with HIV/AIDS in the
province has reached more than 15,000.