'I wouldn't isolate people with HIV'

'I wouldn't isolate people with HIV'

World AIDS Day was commemorated on Wednesday with activists
calling for the need to protect women and girls, who are often
sidelined in the fight against the disease. With estimates of
between 90,000 and 130,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in
Indonesia, The Jakarta Post asked residents what they thought
about people with the virus.

Bayu, 29, works as a television producer in a production house
in South Jakarta. He lives with his wife in Kemanggisan, West
Jakarta:

I have a relative who is HIV positive. He was infected because
he was an injecting drug user. Now, most of the time he stays
home. I don't know why but maybe he's afraid about how people
will react toward him.

Some members of my extended family still talk about him behind
his back, mocking and judging him.

As for myself, since I was married a year ago I stopped my
"wild lifestyle" and I've remained faithful to my wife. I hope my
current lifestyle does not expose me to HIV.

Yennie Chandra, 26, owns an electronic store at the HWI
Lindeteves electronic market in Glodok, West Jakarta. She lives
in Bojong, West Jakarta, with her mother and brother:

Of course I would be sad if a member of my family was infected
from HIV/AIDS but I would not let that sorrow consume me. I would
take the person to the best doctor I could find.

I know that HIV/AIDS is not curable, but by taking care of
them and giving them the best treatment I could prolong their
lives.

I don't think I'd feel afraid of being infected with the virus
as I have read enough from newspapers, the internet and heard
enough from radio and televisions that HIV/AIDS is contractible
through blood to blood contact only.

I wouldn't isolate the person. Instead, I would give them my
support because if the person could choose, they wouldn't want to
have HIV.

-- The Jakarta Post