Save-sex program introduced to military
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta
Acknowledging that soldiers are vulnerable to Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) during missions across the country, the Ministry of Defense has initiated a program to prevent the spread of HIV and other STDs among military personnel.
The ministry said on Wednesday it was following the lead of the National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI), which cooperate with the National Family Planning Board (BKKBN) in promoting the use of condoms to reduce the risk of STDs.
The ministry's Director General of National Resilience Rear Marshall Pieter L.D. Wattimena admitted the program might spark controversy as it could be regarded as a justification for promiscuity in the military.
"I can't blame those who may think that distributing condoms for soldiers will encourage them to have sex out of wedlock. But we can't deny that as human beings soldiers need it especially when they are joining a military operation far away from home," Wattimena said in his address to 220 officers who had just been installed as the program's peer leaders.
Wattimena declined to reveal data on the number of soldiers who had contracted STDs, but an officer who asked for anonymity said almost 60 percent of Army soldiers leaving for Aceh for the second six months of the military operation in the province in January tested positive for STDs.
The peer leaders had undergone a two-week course on HIV/AIDS sponsored by UNAIDS.
Each of them received a kit, including a dildo, a box of condoms, articles and data on HIV/AIDS and a guidebook to enable them to share their knowledge with their colleagues.
"If people know that soldiers have to move from one operation to another, with one operation lasting six months, they will understand why we have to provide them with condoms," Wattimena said.
Data from the Ministry of Health in 2003 revealed that nearly 26.4 percent of between 124,000 and 169,000 people with HIV/AIDS had contracted it through sexual intercourse or injecting drugs with shared needles.
"Due to the high prevalence of HIV in Papua, we require a comprehensive medical checkup for soldiers departing for and arriving from the area," Wattimena said.
The ministry, he added, had also asked the BKKBN to install condom vending machines in places accessible to soldiers departing for a mission. A customer can buy a pack of five condoms for Rp 1,900 (US 20 cent) per transaction.
Wattimena said a customer would have to register with the ministry and receive a card that will record each transaction he or she makes.