Five leading parties against abortion

DEPOK, West Java (JP): Five leading political parties contesting the June 7 general election say they are against abortion, grouping it with AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases as "problems of moral and religious crisis".

Politicians of the National Mandate Party (PAN), National Awakening Party (PKB), Golkar Party, Justice Party (PK) and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) agreed in a seminar here on Thursday that abortion is against religious and moral values and must be forbidden.

The politicians, four of whom were doctors, were Sanusi Tambunan of PAN, Abdul Wahid of PKB, Ulla Nuchrawaty of Golkar, Naharus Surur of PK and Sukowaluyo Mintorahardjo of PDI Perjuangan.

"Abortion is against moral and religious values. It is wrong and must be forbidden," Sukowaluyo said.

The discussion, titled "Towards a New and Healthy Indonesia," was organized by the Faculty of Public Health of the University of Indonesia. The discussion was also attended by medical experts, including former chairman of the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) Kartono Mohamad who became visibly irritated by the politicians' stance on abortion.

Quoting data from the World Health Organization (WHO), he said unsafe abortions accounted for 30 percent of the total mortality rate among women. He also cited studies that showed most abortions were an option taken by married women rather than by teenagers or free sex practitioners.

"So stop giving normative, hypocritical answers. Which is better, saving a woman's life or sacrificing her over hypocritical excuses?" Kartono demanded.

Another attendant in the audience told Sukowaluyo that the leader of PDI Perjuangan, Megawati Soekarnoputri, is a woman, and that 52 percent of Indonesia's eligible voters are women. It was therefore reasonable, he said, that the party campaign for women's rights to decide on their own whether to have abortions.

"There is no correlation between having a female leader and the abortion (issue)," Sukowaluyo retorted.

Kartono believed no satisfying answers were given by the politicians during the session.

"They have much to learn. Health is an important issue but they have made it a mere political commodity," Kartono said to journalists.

The politicians also pledged to lower medicine prices and improve health management through decentralization. They agreed that smoking is a bad habit, "but they have to respect the rights of smoking people," and suggested for non-smoking areas to be implemented in Indonesia.

"Our party will strive for an increase in the next state health budget from the previous 2.3 percent out of Rp 263.88 trillion to at least 5 percent," Naharus.

"Health is a crucial investment for human resource development but all this time we gave little attention to it," Naharus said.

"We have to start by supporting a decentralization of health administration and management and by empowering people at the grassroots level where they are hit the hardest by the impacts of the crisis," he said.

Ulla said empowerment should start at the community health clinics, popularly called Puskesmas.

"It is time for health clinics not to be filled only by doctors, but also public health experts as well as environmentalists and other specialists."

"Currently, doctors play all of those roles," she said.

A lack of awareness towards healthy living among people often hinders efforts to develop a healthy environment, Sukowaluyo noted.

"Many people still fail to understand the consequences of their own actions. For instance, a street cleaner sweeps the roads but dumps the litter into the gutter. This is ridiculous ... as it (causes) flooding," Sukowaluyo said.

He spoke about the need to change people's habits and educate the public, including many health officials, in order to develop a healthy environment.

"Our party will give examples by presenting a clean and peaceful campaign for the June 7 poll."

The five politicians also expressed support for an anti- smoking campaign.

"But I wouldn't agree if the government drastically shuts down tobacco plantations or forbids people to smoke. That's impossible," Sanusi said.

"We have a presidential candidate who smokes," Sanusi said, referring to Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a presidential nominee of the Crescent Star Party (PBB).

The politicians also agreed on the need to cut distribution chains in order to lower medicine prices. They said the manufacturers, the major wholesalers or agents, and retailers billed fees that went towards the increased drug price in most cases.

"This is why Golkar will campaign for a policy under which doctors may dispense medicines to patients at cheaper prices," Ulla said.

Medicines that are directly distributed, she said, "means the long bureaucratic chain of distribution could be cut off".

A common medicine price list along with clear regulations and sanctions authorizing doctors to dispense medicines, must be set up by the government, she added.

Currently there are 224 companies which produce 16,000 types of medicines in Indonesia, Ulla said.

"We will also have to question the government about the importation of raw materials for drugs. Most of the medicines produced here contain up to 90 percent imported materials (which cause skyrocketing prices)," Sanusi said. "We suggest the imported materials be substituted with local ones so production costs can be lowered." (edt)