SE Asian ulemas to discuss HIV/AIDS

JAKARTA (JP): Moslem clerics from Southeast Asia will discuss Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in a workshop on Tuesday in conjunction with World AIDS Day.

The workshop will be opened at Hotel Indonesia by Minister of Religious Affairs Malik Fajar, the ministry said. However, no other details were given about the discussion, titled Workshop of Ulemas from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on HIV/AIDS.

Recommendations of safe sex as one step to prevent HIV/AIDS has been controversial here, with religious leaders saying promoting safe sex could encourage promiscuity.

The workshop will be one of several commemorations of World AIDS Day in Jakarta and Surabaya.

Other planned events are talk shows, social awareness campaigns and discussions, performances and exhibitions.

The communications director of the Futures Group, a consultancy firm focusing on social marketing, said the group was working with the government and the United States Agency for International Development on a HIV/AIDS prevention project.

Talk shows will be screened on a number of television stations this week. SCTV will feature HIV/AIDS activist Baby Jim Aditya on Dec. 5.

In Surabaya, an exhibition will be held at the French Cultural Center to Dec. 5, while talks on sex education are planned for Tuesday. Speakers are to include Lies Marcoes Natsir, a researcher on Moslem teachings, and sexologist Wimpie Pangkahila. The event is being be organized by Surabaya's Surya Hotline Service Foundation.

Samsuridjal Djauzi of Pelita Ilmu Foundation has predicted that young people, especially women in rural areas between 15 and 24 years old, risk being infected with HIV because of the limited working options they have.

He said more women were likely to turn to prostitution as a result of unemployment and "they should at least know how to protect themselves".

As of October, the Ministry of Health recorded 776 reported HIV/AIDS cases nationwide, of which 555 were HIV-positive and 221 people had full-blown AIDS. Of the 221 people with AIDS, 111 have died. (anr)