Marchers urge public to avoid threat of AIDS

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

This year's observance of International AIDS Day in Jakarta was marked by revelry, parades and music on Saturday.

Students carrying banners paraded through the capital, the President released white balloons into the air at the National Monument (Monas) and young people played music -- with anti-AIDS messages.

Never experiment with drugs, avoid promiscuity and unprotected sex were some of the messages conveyed to the public about the danger of AIDS, which first became a national issue in 1987 in Indonesia.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri, accompanied by Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Yusuf Kalla and Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi, saw off the parade from the National Monument complex, after releasing hundreds of white balloons.

The parade, starting from Monas and ending at Senayan Sports Stadium, was enlivened by pop and marching bands, along with traditional music performances.

Wearing white t-shirts with a red ribbon as the symbol of their concern for AIDS, the students carried posters reminding the public of the danger of AIDS.

"This year's AIDS Day observance focused on increasing male, especially teenagers', participation in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS," Sujudi said.

The theme was chosen based on the fact that men largely neglect to practice safe sex.

"This habit of engaging in unprotected sex endangers the health of both men and women. Men should have greater concern because they put their family's health at risk, too," Sujudi added.

Official data shows that 120,000 people in Indonesia are infected with HIV/AIDS. Activists say that the actual number could be much higher as many cases are undetected. The number has risen along with the increasing number of drug users.

Almost half the sufferers have died. AIDS/HIV mostly affects people of productive age, from 20 to 39, who account for 73.27 percent of the sufferers.

HIV/AIDS sufferers are found in 23 of the 30 provinces in the country, with Jakarta and Irian Jaya topping the list with 239 and 210 cases respectively as of Sept. 30, 2001.

In Surabaya, dozens of university students marked AIDS Day with rallies and displayed posters and banners along the city's main streets to warn the public of the danger of AIDS.

"AIDS could affect anybody... that is why we have to be alert to its spread," one of the participants, Haris Sianturi, said as quoted by Antara.