Teenagers are indifferent about danger of AIDS

Teenagers are indifferent about danger of AIDS

By Veronica Soediro

JAKARTA (JP): "How would you feel if a family member contracted AIDS?"

"Let him be, who cares," she shrugged.

"Seriously!"

"I dunno."

Where else would you hear answers like that except from a happy go lucky teenager. She was in the audience at the AIDS Awareness Conference last Sunday. AIDS is virtually unknown still. This indifference is what the AIDS Foundation of Indonesia aims to demolish.

The conference was held at the trendy shopping center of Plaza Indonesia, Central Jakarta. Targeted at teenagers, the half-hour conference was packed with humorous and informative sessions. The event had participants sitting on the stage, with cover boys from a teenage magazine lending an air of glamour to the proceedings. Although they kept fairly quiet, they concentrated the kids attention most effectively.

Representatives of the Aids Foundation of Indonesia, Sarsanto Wirawan and Mawarwati Djamaloeddin, discussed taboos without blinking an eyelid. Everything was spelled out clearly and straight forwardly, and the audience was encouraged to be as open as they wanted to be.

Latex condoms, abstinence, monogamy, promiscuity, oral sex, AIDS test, the Kama Sutra, alternatives such as hugging, touching and kissing were discussed openly. How AIDS could and could not be contracted was explained. Sarsanto's suggestion of abstinence for teenagers was met with huge applause from the audience. However, he was realistic enough to mention that in cases of compelling urgency, the use of condoms would be wise.

People were reminded that AIDS sufferers are not deviant.

"People contract it through blood transfusions, sharing needles, promiscuous partners. Babies get it through their HIV- positive mothers or when breast-fed."

"This could happen to any of us. Our fathers, our brothers or sisters, our friends. Accidents will happen. However, these people are still productive human beings," Mawarwati pointed out.

Sarsanto added, "Protect AIDS sufferers, don't isolate them. Unite and fight the disease instead."

Tip of the iceberg

The question-and-answer session sadly reflected how little these young people knew about AIDS. What they knew was generally only that AIDS is "Dangerous, deadly and contagious." When invited to ask questions, the only query was "Can AIDS be contracted while swimming?"

Although the two hip young hosts did a good job in general, they still needed more sensitivity. Some jokes were taken too far. The male presenter, a cover boy, commented on the death of AIDS sufferers, "It wouldn't hurt to have less people in the world."

Mawarwati noted there was no official statistics yet. However, the latest estimation of HIV positive people and AIDS sufferers in Indonesia is 355. "That's only those detected, so it's only the tip of an iceberg," she said.

The marketing manager of the Concorde Group which sponsored the event, Jody Dharmawan, explained that the conference was linked with the coming AIDS Day on Dec. 1. Dharmawan described most people's attitude as a craving to escape from the problem. Running away from it is not the way to prevent AIDS or to learn about it.

"The board of directors feel a social obligation to educate people about AIDS. The disease definitely exists, and the problem is getting more and more serious. Therefore it is important to make people aware of it."

Cultural hurdles

In a separate interview, Mawarwati and Sarsanto elaborated on the issues.

Mawarwati believes there is still a lack of openness in Indonesian culture. Especially concerning sex, and AIDS, which obviously has a lot to do with sexual attitudes. Sarsanto said this state of affairs was regrettable because it means that teenage curiosities could therefore not be satisfied properly.

"They will ask around, and they might get wrong answers. Therefore it is our responsibility as a society to provide them with the right answers. The AIDS Foundation of Indonesia, along with other similar foundations, provide phone-in services where this is going one," said Sarsanto

Information about AIDS at home or at school is still inadequate.

"Only one school, the Lab school in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, has invited us for a seminar, like today's," said the counselors. "We make it more a discussion than a lecture. Otherwise it is hard to sustain their attention."

They admitted that most of their seminars were for companies. "But the foundation is always available to give seminars at schools. We have different packages for different audiences."

'No Means No'

The foundation has also started a "No Means No" campaign.

"Saying no is a new attitude in Indonesia," explained Sarsanto. "We try to teach young women to say no firmly, as polite refusals can be mistaken for mere shyness."

As in many other countries, the level of AIDS awareness amongst teenagers is still low here. "When you are young, you are immortal" seems to be many young people's naive assumption.

My mother uses reverse psychology to manipulate stubborn young minds. It works like a charm. Maybe we have been using the wrong slogans. It should be: "What is the latest thing, growing world- wide, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, anytime, anywhere, for you?"

"AIDS. Come and join us. Free lifetime memberships!"

The Indonesian government has recently taken new steps to educate the public, but generally only targets adults.

"This coming Saturday (Dec. 2), a grand debate concerning the use of condoms is being held at the Health Department of the University of Indonesia. Minister of Health Sujudi is going to preside over the debate. Frankly, since the use of condoms is the only known way to prevent AIDS, their use should be enforced. The success of this event, although with limited participants, will make our job as counselors much easier," said Sarsanto, who also emphasized that it was not in their interest to promote condoms. As stated before, they believed teenagers should abstain from sexual intercourse.

Magic Johnson

The foundation uses a different strategy when faced with government officials and their prejudices towards AIDS sufferers. They include those who stopped Magic Johnson visiting Indonesia. The foundation said diplomatically, "Approaching these officials is done one step at a time. It is better than two years ago. No one has been rejected since Magic Johnson."

Sarsanto said they use the proper channels to talk to concerned government officials, such as representatives from the ministry of health or a university health department.

"This strategy is more effective than confronting them directly."

Indonesian culture, he explained, still discourages society from criticizing authority.

Mawarwati also emphasized that information of this nature can be taken out of context and therefore misunderstood, especially in a multicultural society such as Indonesia.

"Criticism through the mass media may cause conflict. It is necessary to be very precise. Misinformation could be dangerous."

The result of the Magic Johnson incident was the immigration office's plan to issue Free of AIDS cards in 1992 for residents of Indonesia.

"But we successfully convinced them this was only temporary, cosmetic measure. Anyone can still contract AIDS anytime."

The importance of AIDS awareness is not only that it saves lives, but also that it prevents unnecessary anxieties.

"People felt threatened by the arrival of Magic Johnson because they did not know how AIDS was contracted."

The AIDS Foundation of Indonesia was the main player in dealing with the Medistra incident. This hospital in South Jakarta refused patients with AIDS several months ago.

"Now there are national guidelines how to treat patients with AIDS, what to do when they die. All medical staff know these already. There is no reason to worry," claimed Mawarwati.

"Now that it is a popular issue everybody will be writing about it, but in two months they will have moved on," said Mawarwati.