Anxious minister alone in facing bird flu threat

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Wearing a special white outfit complete with gloves and mask, Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyantono was shouting stressfully to staff from the Tangerang animal husbandry office asking them if it was safe to open his mask to give an interview to the media.

Many reporters, waiting in front of the minister with no protective gloves or masks during a cull ceremony on a pig farm in Legok, Tangerang, Banten province last Sunday, were astonished to see how frightened he was.

For several minutes, no one seemed to listen to the minister's query as the ministry and regency staffers, reporters and hundreds of local people wore no protective gear -- the exceptions were Anton, the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab and two or three ministerial aides.

"Don't blame me if you get bird flu because you don't wear a mask. This is very dangerous, you know, as the virus can be transmitted through the air," he warned reporters through his mask.

Dozens of local and international journalists covered the ceremony as a total of 31 pigs and 40 ducks, which were said to be infected by bird flu, were slaughtered to show the public that efforts were being carried out to stop the spread of the virus.

Strangely, despite the minister's warning, his staff as well as those from Tangerang's animal husbandry office, provided just a few masks to the high-ranking officials on hand and some reporters, while leaving hundreds of local people, including many children, as well as most reporters unmasked during the ceremony.

They did not even have coordination and cooperation on how to safeguard the local people from such a very dangerous virus.

The Tangerang Regent Ismet Iskandar did not attend the high- profile event.

Poor Anton! It seemed that he was the only one sufficiently worried about the virus transmission in the area. The ministry's staff and Tangerang regency administration staff looked relax, even though hundreds of local people without masks stood closely watching the infected animals being slaughtered.

Looking at the half-hearted security efforts, many people attending the ceremony, questioned whether the animals were really infected bird flu, or whether it was just a public relations stunt to calm the public down.

The death of three Tangerang residents after being infected by bird flu -- Iwan Siswara Rafei, an official at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and his two daughters -- was clearly the main reason behind the limited cull, although it remains unclear whether Iwan and his children contracted the virus in Tangerang.

Shortly after the cull, the government declared Tangerang as a "red zone" for bird flu.

The regent later denied that there were any bird flu cases in Tangerang and asked the central government to revoke the red zone status. He insisted that the central government had no reason at all to declare his regency prone to the virus because the local animal husbandry office had not found any evidence of avian influenza there.

He also complained that the red zone status was having a negative impact on poultry breeders and market vendors, with their sales slashed by around 50 percent virtually over night.

If other local administrations like Tangerang challenge the central government, efforts to fight bird flu in the country will face huge difficulties while the spread of the virus continues.

What would happen if other local administrations in Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, etc., which have reportedly had sporadic outbreaks of the virus, simply refused to cooperate?

Since we now have regional autonomy, local regents, mayors and governors do not necessarily have to listen to the central government's orders.

The government should discuss everything with local administrations before announcing a policy so the "Tangerang incident" (where local administrations ignore the central government) does not recur. The World Health Organization has warned that the bird flu virus could mutate and become a full- fledged human virus, creating a deadly, easily transferable, pandemic strain that could kill millions of people.