Anxious minister alone in facing bird flu threat

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.