•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

It was World AIDS Day on Tuesday and for the whole day, I wore a red ribbon, the global symbol to show solidarity with HIV-positive people and those living with AIDS. Many of my friends who saw the ribbon either asked me about its meaning or said that they had completely forgotten about World AIDS Day.

It was then that I remembered an incident earlier this year when, during lunch in a crowded shopping mall, the female friend I was with told me about the death of a mutual male friend. Even though he hadn’t been a close friend of mine, the news shocked me, because he had only been in his late 20s.

When I asked how he passed away, my friend said she wasn’t sure, but there were rumors that he had had AIDS.

Then, she leaned over and asked in a low voice, “Do you think I should get tested?”

“Why?” I asked. “Did you ever have sex with him?”

She shook her head, shocked by my question, and then said: “But you know, whenever I met him, we shook hands.”

When I explained to her that she couldn’t catch HIV or AIDS through a handshake, she was surprised and said that she had always thought that just a short touch was enough to spread the virus.

When it comes to HIV and AIDS, it seems that Indonesians know very few facts. Which is more worrying because, according to the UNAIDS agency, there are around 270,000 people throughout the country who are infected with HIV, and 8,700 people have died from the disease. It has been described by some experts as a ticking time bomb.

Still, awareness campaigns have either not been efficient enough or are still lacking in number, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many people in Indonesia who don’t know the basic facts about HIV and AIDS and how to prevent infection. They should also know that they don’t need to be afraid of socially interacting with HIV-positive people, and instead of treating them with misplaced fear, should show them some common courtesy and respect.

Moreover, I was startled by an article in this newspaper on Monday that said some hard-line Muslim protesters were demanding that the government implement Shariah law to prevent the further spread of HIV.

“In Jakarta, more than 200 female demonstrators urged the government to close down brothels and ban condoms, which they said encouraged ‘free sex and unhealthy behavior.’ One banner read, ‘Prostitutes, drug users and homosexuals are the agents of immorality,’ ” the report read.

The demonstrators also demanded that programs providing free condoms for male and female prostitutes be ended.

Let’s try to look at this from a logical point of view — Jakarta is becoming a modern metropolis, and more and more people of the younger generation are independent and free-spirited and don’t follow the same traditions or rules as their parents. In other words, sex before marriage is becoming more common, and this development seems to be a natural one and unlikely to stop.

To ban condoms would hardly lead to sexual abstinence. Unprotected sex does increase the risk of being infected with HIV and AIDS, however, so the demonstrators’ entire stance was a screaming contradiction in my eyes.

Banning condoms in order to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS makes as much sense as telling the Easter Bunny to deliver his eggs on Christmas.

Also, prostitution is one of the oldest industries in the world. Close down one brothel, and another will open a week later. I don’t support prostitution, but depriving sex workers of free condoms would just put them at higher risk of infection.

And what about the implication that homosexuals are, by definition, agents of immorality?

Really? I am sorry, but don’t we live in the 21st century?

I might not have the solution to curb the spread of HIV and AIDS in this country, but implementing Shariah law cannot be the way. Instead, there should be more information about the disease, starting in schools. This is not to encourage casual sex. That is a decision that each and every person should make for themselves. But it would help make sure that, just in case, safe sex is the way more people go. And that may also make the sharing of needles by injecting drug users less deadly.

Another friend of mine — an Indonesian — recently tweeted, “Make love, not war. After all, condoms are so much cheaper than guns.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Katrin Figge is a features reporter with the Jakarta Globe.