Condom debate planned for World AIDS Day
Condom debate planned for World AIDS Day
JAKARTA (JP): A debate on the use, sale and promotion of condoms is being organized by the Indonesian Medical Association in connection with World AIDS Day, which falls on Dec. 1.
The debate will be held on Dec. 2 at the University of Indonesia's School of Medicine, which is located on Jl. Salemba Raya in Central Jakarta, medical association chairman Dr. Azrul Azwar told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
The debate will feature five speakers: former health minister Dr. Adhyatma; leader of Nahdlatul Ulama -- Indonesia's biggest Moslem organization -- Abdurrachman Wahid; legislator Dr. Nafsiah Mboy; psychologist Yaumil Achir; and Dr. Sjamsurizal, a physician who has a lot of experience with AIDS cases.
Azwar will be the moderator of the debate.
The Indonesian Ulemas Council recently proposed a regulation that would require people to produce a marriage certificate before they could buy a condom. Council chief Hasan Basri proposed that condoms be sold only at drugstores and made available only to married people with a doctor's prescription.
Related
The proposal was apparently related to the promotion of condom use by non-governmental organizations seeking to contain the spread of AIDS.
The ulemas council has criticized attempts to promote the use of condoms, arguing that these could encourage sex outside of wedlock.
"We are organizing the debate to provide input for the government," Azwar said.
Expressing his own view ahead of the debate, Azwar said that he fully agreed that religion and the promotion of family values are essential in the fight against AIDS, but that they are not enough.
"Indonesians are ordinary human beings. They are just like other people. Many of them are bad (nakal). Preaching to them will not do any good. We have to be realistic," he said.
He added that, in order to prevent promiscuity, campaigns promoting religious and family values and providing sex education in schools could be held concurrently with campaigns promoting the use of condoms.
As of last month, the government put the number of people in Indonesia with HIV and AIDS at 346. Of that number, 82 were full- blown AIDS cases, of which 50 had died.
Some experts estimate that the actual number of people with the virus is more than 200 times the official figure. (sim)