Quality TV drama takes realistic look at AIDS

Quality TV drama takes realistic look at AIDS

JAKARTA (JP): AIDS cannot be transmitted by touching or
kissing. Local dramas do not necessarily mean cheesy soap operas
that are made for ratings alone.

Both concepts were worked on for half a year by six directors
and a group of doctors specializing in sexually-transmitted
diseases. The result is Kupu Kupu Ungu (Purple Butterflies),
starring Nurul Arifin and Gito Gilas, scheduled to be aired every
Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., beginning Oct. 6.

Directed by Nano Riantiarno, Noto Bagakoro, Hanny R. Saputra,
Riri Reza, Nan Triveni Achnas and Idris Pulungan, the 13-episode
drama series is a collaboration of Indonesia's Ministry of
Health, the Ford Foundation and TV station RCTI.

Hanny said Kupu Kupu will inform people about how HIV is
contracted and how people with AIDS are generally treated.

The series, which also guest-stars Ratna N. Riantiarno, Adi
Kurdi, Butet Kertarejasa and Aspar Paturusi, tells of the ways
several classes of society deal with AIDS and the HIV-virus. One
of the episodes for example, entitled Heboh (Indonesian slang for
"It's A Riot") is a story about a prostitute accused of being HIV
positive who is terrorized by villagers ignorant about the
disease.

The series that took Rp 780 million to produce was shot in a
number of locations, including the prostitute-filled fishing
village of Indramayu in West Java, Cirebon, West Java, Semarang,
Yogyakarta and Surabaya.

Abdul Manaf, head of the Ministry of Health's Directorate of
Communicable Disease Control, said Kupu Kupu will convey the
message about the transmission of HIV through blood transfusion
and sexual intercourse.

Ford Foundation program officer for reproductive health,
Rosalia Sciortino said that the series also points out the
necessity of not discriminating against people with the virus or
the disease.

"It is not enough to say do not discriminate against these
people. It is important to point out why there is no need to
discriminate against them," Rosalia said.

"There is nothing wrong with touching or kissing people with
the HIV virus or full-blown AIDS."

Nurul, who had the task of conveying the basics about AIDS, is
quite proud of the opportunity granted to her.

"I am representing doctors nationwide who deal with problems
of misdiagnosis and ignorance. I have to be able to convey what
doctors mean by pre-counselling and post-counselling, as well as
dealing with total ignorance about the virus," Nurul said.

Rosalia added that the main problems in villages were lies and
misdiagnosis and worse, the incapacity of potential HIV carriers
to reach the nearest hospitals to get themselves tested.

"For example, in villages people die of tuberculosis and they
may never find out that the real cause was the virus," she said.

"Secondly, hospitals do have the facilities to carry blood,
urine and saliva tests, but again, in Irian Jaya for instance,
people have to walk miles before they can reach a hospital. So,
they would rather not."

She added that doctors too may be stationed in remote areas
but their reach was still limited.

There are more than 700 AIDS registered patients nationwide.

"According to the Ford Foundation's rough estimates, the
unofficial figure could be 100 times that," Rosalia said. (ylt)