ASEAN ulemas issue declaration on AIDS

ASEAN ulemas issue declaration on AIDS

JAKARTA (JP): A declaration by 28 Islamic religious leaders
and experts from six Southeast Asian countries was issued Tuesday
during a workshop here, and contained 15 guidelines on HIV/AIDS
and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Named the Jakarta Declaration, it stated, among others, that
"a married couple must use protective devices (condoms)" or other
methods to prevent HIV transmission whenever one of them is
already HIV positive."

It also declared "the obligation as Islam leaders to support
both the national and regional HIV/AIDS programs as long as the
programs' activities are not against Islamic teachings and
principals." The ulema acknowledged that information and
educational activities from national AIDS programs had not yet
reached the regions' majority Moslem population.

They also declared that "it is prohibited to perform
euthanasia, either passive or active, on AIDS patients."

The ulema from Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia,
Philippines and Brunei Darussalam also stated that while marriage
between people living with HIV was permitted, "marriage between a
HIV negative individual and a HIV positive individual is makruh
-- not prohibited, but avoiding it is preferable and rewarding in
Islam."

It also stated that if a pregnant woman is already infected
with HIV or has AIDS, she is not allowed to have an abortion.

Another guideline was that pregnant women who are HIV positive
or have AIDS because of extramarital sex, and those who were
infected through the injection of illegal drugs by contaminated
needles were to be well taken care of, but had to be made fully
aware of their sins and be guided to ask forgiveness from Allah.

At the opening of the first workshop of Southeast Asian ulema
on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), President B.J. Habibie urged ulema to
help explain the dangers of the virus and how to avoid infection.

"We realize the ailment has become a serious threat to
societies in Southeast Asia," he said.

The Human Development Report of the United Nations Development
Program released in September revealed that Southeast Asia and
Asia have five million HIV positive people, "with an average of
almost 3,000 new infections per day in Southeast Asia".

Minister of Religious Affairs Malik Fajar told the workshop
which ends Thursday, that the ministry's policy is to prevent the
virus by strengthening religious values, given that "the spread
of HIV is not so easy" if one adhered to such values. He cited
sexual behavior as a related cause to 85 percent of new cases of
HIV. The national AIDS prevention program also advocates safe sex
apart from instilling religious values.

As of Oct. 31 of this year, Indonesia had 776 recorded cases
of HIV/AIDS, and is predicting at least 2 million cases by the
year 2000, the minister said. (anr/prb)