Respecting people with HIV is good for society

David and Joyce Djaelani Gordon, Contributors, Jakarta

Agitated fear, prejudice and misunderstandings fuel a wildfire of stigma and discrimination toward many who are living with HIV and AIDS today. Many are dismissed as "throwaway people", pointed to and labeled sex workers or prostitutes, drug abusers or junkies, criminals, gay, unfaithful, immoral, the untouchables.

The majority of people living with HIV or AIDS today feel as though they are outcasts from society and their families. Most live lives of secret desperation, forced into a shadowed existence of lies, half-truths, deception and shame at the deepest level possible}. When "escape" from stigma and discrimination is believed not possible, and human rights are shattered, the "reverse" of human wrongs is often seen as justified.

Often "we" sit in judgment of "them", sentencing them to live their lives within a jail, one within themselves, without bars, yet nevertheless a prison. Often "we" give "them" mocked acceptance, a false sense of equality and freedom, and pretend love and compassion.

But, mostly, the reality shown by the general population reveals that most do not want to eat or drink from their utensils, work beside them or have them marrying into their families. Time passes, and rather than time healing, we find it fosters separation, increases resentment and expands the crisis of loneliness.

What could happen if the stigma and discrimination is reversed? What happens when the target targets you, the community, and society?

What happens when rage overcomes reason, or one of these people says, in frustration and confusion at the lot dealt to them, "I don't care"?

What happens when pain becomes overwhelmingly unbearable -- and "revenge" gladdens the senses? What happens when "they" decide to strike out against those who stigmatize or discriminate?

We, as a nation, must realize we no longer speak in terms of just an isolated number of people; we now speak about hundreds of thousands with HIV and AIDS, reaching across the entire archipelago, from Sabang to Merauke. The "groups" known to be most at risk are sex workers (both female and male), drug abusers and addicts, criminals, and "young people" (there are 60 million young people between the ages of 16 to 28 across the nation).

These individuals and groups often have a variety of attitudinal, behavioral, authoritarian, social and living difficulties -- just by the nature of who they are and what they do. Then add in HIV, and living with HIV, and then add the finality of death from AIDS. Imagine then how easy it would be to become bitter, resentful, contemptuous, angry and revengeful?

Reverse stigma and discrimination is easily "cloaked" for it is not possible to distinguish or diagnose someone with HIV or AIDS (without some kind of disclosure, a specific blood test, or until they become symptomatic or seriously ill) so individuals may, without notice or warning, retaliate over long periods of time without anyone noticing irregular or harmful behavior.

Also, it is rarely possible to comprehend the mental or emotional condition of someone infected with HIV or AIDS without being in close relationship with them.

Consider drug abusers and addicts, particularly those who use needles, who knowingly, for their own purposes and reasons, share needles with others. Addicts are often emotionally temperamental and unstable, easily brought to high levels of frustration and anger, and often act-out aggressively. Reports from the Center of AIDS Prevention Studies of John Hopkins University showed that 40 percent of HIV-positive injecting drug users visiting AIDS clinics and institutions have personality disorders, including antisocial and borderline behaviors.

There are approximately three million drug abusers and one million addicts across the nation. The drug of choice, throughout the nation, is still putaw (low-grade heroin); shabu {methamphetamine} rates second. Consumption of alcohol is rising rapidly. Both putaw and shabu are injectable, and drug users are sexually very active in the early stages of using.

Consider a criminal, someone who possesses a criminal mentality, who knows he/she is infected with HIV or AIDS, knows there is just some short time left until they will die, and is hostile toward humanity. Someone, who for their own personal reasons, "wants to get even", to take "revenge upon others".

Consider millions of young males and females, many who display risky behavior, which heightens the never-ending-search for fun and excitement, which encourages "drugs, sex, & rock n roll". Consider many young people who face the confusion and vulnerability stemming from teenage years, peer pressure, or have social and family problems that lead to "acting-out". Many thousands of young people are already infected, many thousands, then hundreds of thousands, will become infected in the coming years.

Many young people with HIV/AIDS become distraught, believing they have been cheated out of life, and give in to the belief that their life is condemned and dammed, developing a "I don't care" attitude and way of life.

Numerous will "try" or "pretend" to live a normal life, go to school or work, have girlfriends or boyfriends, get engaged, get married, have children, and never tell their partners they are infected -- until they get sick, or are about to die. All this occurs frequently with young people. These are some of the reasons why HIV infection rates continue to soar.

This is not scaremongering, or meant to engender an attitude of us looking warily at HIV positive people around us for harboring the potential to "strike back" at us.

We must realize that stigma and discrimination are a double- edged sword. All of us will bear the consequences of our voices and actions, unless we consciously minimize discrimination.

If we do not, there could be catastrophic consequences to the general population, to the health and welfare of the nation than most may imagine. It is our common responsibility to begin to take a bold step within our capacity to help minimize stigma and discrimination against those in our society.

The writers are the directors of Yayasan Harapan Permata Hati Kita, a rehabilitation center for recovering drug addicts.