Majority of married couples eschew condoms usage

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

A member of the West Java legislative council's Commission E, Ani Rukmini, said her husband did not like to use condoms.

"No thanks, dear. It feels uncomfortable and it will take too long to finish," she quoted her husband as saying.

Eventually, Ani, who is concerned with the issue of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), especially HIV/AIDS, gave up trying to get her husband to use a condom.

"Is it possible to produce a condom that does not require the man to stop and put it on, because the urge will wear off," said the woman during a visit to PT Mitra Rajawali Banjaran's condom factory in Bandung, the largest of its kind in Indonesia.

Ani visited the factory along with scores of reporters from Papua, South Sulawesi, Bali and West Java, as well as officials from the National Family Planning Board (BKKBN) and the West Java AIDS Mitigation Commission (KPAD).

Condoms are the second most popular method of contraception among men taking part in the national family planning program, after vasectomy. However, it is a distant second. A BKKBN survey found 21 percent of couples feel uncomfortable using condoms. Of this number, 54 percent said they were worried about condom breakage, while the rest complained of limited sensation and embarrassment when purchasing condoms.

Condom use remains low among couples in Indonesia. Statistics show that only 0.3 percent of married couples use condoms for contraception, said Riadi from the West Java KPAD.

This despite the fact that condoms are almost 100 percent effective in preventing the spread of STDs and HIV/AIDS and have been proven successful as a contraceptive device.

"Undoubtedly, condoms have the dual function of preventing unplanned pregnancies as well as the spread of STDs, because we do not know exactly what our partners do outside the house," said Riadi.

According to BKKBN data, of the 5.2 million family planning program participants in 2004, only about 15,770 used condoms for contraception. This despite efforts to make condoms more appealing by introducing condoms in different shapes and flavors.

According to the director of PT Mitra Rajawali Banjaran, Maizal Yusuf, they even produced a "long love" type of condom that came with a special lubricant designed to help maintain an erection for up to two hours.

"What is lacking with our condoms? We make them in assorted colors and flavors, such as pink for strawberry-flavored condoms, brown for chocolate, green for apple ... but these efforts have so far failed to get many people interested in using condoms," said Maizal.

Because of low demand, three machines at the factory, which was officially opened by former president Soeharto in 1987, are not operating at full capacity.

According to Maizal, the factory produces about 300,000 grosses of condoms annually, or about 30 percent of total capacity.

The factory usually sends about 80 percent of its products to the central and regional BKKBN offices. The rest are exported to Dubai, Sri Lanka and Nigeria.

However, so far this year the company has not received any orders from the BKKBN. To survive, it plans to export condoms to Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia in August, as well as getting into the business of manufacturing disposable syringes.

The factory reached its highest production when it initially started operations in the 1990s, before the fall of Soeharto, when it was compulsory for every family to participate in the national family planning program.

Following political changes in the country, the factory, which employs 100 people, has seen its production numbers slip.

Maizal said he wished the government would join activists and NGOs in promoting condom use.

He said the government lacked the political will to campaign for condom use among couples.