Condoms spark controversy

Condoms spark controversy

MAUMERE, East Nusa Tenggara: The Indonesian Family Planning
Association has come under fire for distributing free condoms in
this predominantly Catholic region.

Critics have accused the association, which embarked on an
anti-AIDS campaign in the Belu regency, of encouraging
prostitution.

The debate started last week when the association's activists
distributed free condoms at a meeting with rural women.

"Offer these (condoms) to your man before you go to sleep,"
Petrus Muti Parera, the association's secretary in Belu, told the
women.

The action prompted a heated debate as some participants were
offended by being given the contraceptives. They charged that
Petrus had treated them as if they were sex workers.

Belu regent Servatius Muti Parera has said that the
distribution of condoms was "illegal" because it was not
sanctioned by the government.

The bishop of Atambua, Mgr. Anton Pain Ratu, said the
association should not have forced the women to accept the latex
because not all of them had sufficient sex education.

Besides, he said, the villagers were not aware of the
association's good intentions behind the campaigns. (yac)