Papua Police admit to HIV/AIDS cases
The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Jakarta
A few days after the military admitted a dozen deaths due to AIDS-related causes, four policemen have reportedly died of AIDS in Papua over the past five years and at least eight others now living with HIV.
The Trikora Military Command overseeing Papua earlier this week revealed 48 of its soldiers in the area had contracted the virus, with 12 of them passing away.
Papua Police spokesperson Adj. Sr. Comm. Kartono said on Saturday the four deaths were recorded in the Timika, Merauke, Jayapura and Kota Jayapura regencies.
"That's what we know so far, but I'm certain that there are many more police living with HIV/AIDS in other areas that we have yet to discover," he told The Jakarta Post.
He declined to disclose the identities of the four officers, nor did he attempt to speculate when asked whether the 12 policemen had contracted the virus through unprotected sex or intravenous drug use.
An activist with the Papuan Support Group, Robert Sihombing, however, claimed that two of the victims, aged 38 and 40, had contracted the virus from sexual activities.
"One of them had been married, while the other one was single. I knew them, but I didn't have the chance to personally support them," he said.
Gunawan Ingkokusumo, a doctor with the Papuan Action To Stop AIDS movement, said a select number of local police and Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers had been provided in 2004 with training programs and consultation on HIV/AIDS.
"I don't know the extent of the follow-up of the program, but the purpose of it was to help those participating in the program share their knowledge and information with the other members," he said.
In response to the condition, Kartono said the Papua Police department was launching an intensified region-wide education campaign on HIV/AIDS.
He stressed that the police officers that were stationed in the province "were expected to refrain from activities that could put them at risk, such as unprotected sex with multiple partners."
A remote province of rugged mountains and jungles, Papua has a much higher rate of HIV/AIDS infection -- around 19 times -- than the national average. Government officials and local media have often claimed that the high rate in the province was due to limited education and general promiscuity.
The government estimates the figure of people living with HIV/AIDS in the country at between 90,000 to 130,000, while activists say it is already over 500,000.
In Jakarta, TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto stated that the military brass was not of the opinion that the condition was threatening.
"We don't think it's a threat against our forces, although we are taking it quite seriously," he said.
While having unprotected sex was not justifiable, the general said he understood very well the desire of the soldiers to be actively engaged in sex with multiple partners.
"They have no other source of entertainment in such remote areas and away from their families," he rationalized.
Endriartono said no specific policies had been conceived to address the situation, but asserted that soldiers living with HIV/AIDS were still allowed to serve in their units although a forced early retirement was possible.