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)