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)