Hard-Line Indonesian Muslims Seek Shariah End to HIV

Last updated at 11:40 PM. Friday 19 March 2010

Share this page

Go to comments November 30, 2009

Students from Atma Jaya University in Jakarta releasing balloons during a rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Sunday to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. The rally was held as part of the buildup to World AIDS Day, which falls on Tuesday. (Photo: Safir Makki, JG)

Hard-Line Indonesian Muslims Seek Shariah End to HIV

Hundreds of hard-line Muslim protesters staged rallies in cities across the country on Sunday to urge the government to prevent the spread of HIV by implementing Islamic law.

Ahead of World AIDS Day on Tuesday, members of the group Hizbut Tahrir took to the streets in several major cities, including Jakarta, Solo, Yogyakarta and Makassar in South Sulawesi.

“We urge everybody to support the application of Shariah in an Islamic caliphate so that, God willing, all of us will be free from the threat of HIV/AIDS,” Hizbut Tahrir spokeswoman Febrianti Abassuni said in a statement.

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.”

In Pekanbaru, Riau, hundreds of high school students joined a Hizbut Tahrir rally, marching along Jalan Sudirman with posters and banners asking the government to clamp down on the sex industry and drugs to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS.

The protesters said government efforts to counter the spread of the deadly virus did not address the root causes of the problem, which they said were the prevalence of casual sex and homosexuality.

“As a result, the number of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia has increased quite sharply, as much as sixfold in the last three years,” said Noveriyanti, the chairwoman of the Riau branch of Hizbut Tahrir.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, she added, as of June 2009 there were 17,699 cases of AIDS in the country.

“This situation makes us worry about the future of Indonesia,” she said, “because about 80 percent of the 298,000 people living with HIV/AIDS are in the 20 to 39 age group, so that this nation is in real danger of having a ‘lost generation.’ ”

The protesters called on Indonesians to be obedient to God in all things and asked Muslims to live according to Shariah.

They also demanded that programs providing free condoms for male and female prostitutes be ended and that the sex and pornography industries be closed down.

Around 270,000 Indonesians are estimated to be infected with HIV, and AIDS has claimed about 8,700 lives in a nation of 228 million people, according to the UNAIDS agency.

AFP, Antara

East Java Prostitutes Complain That Female Condoms Aren't 'User-Friendly'

10:13 AM 04/03/2010

My Jakarta: Seruni, Transsexual Activist

6:53 PM 01/03/2010

HIV-Positive New Zealand Man Injects Virus Into Sleeping Wife

9:06 PM 06/12/2009

Ignorance Not Bliss When Combating Spread of Virus

10:17 PM 01/12/2009

HIV/AIDS Patients Complain Discrimination in Indonesia

9:59 PM 01/12/2009

Comments

Simon P

9:40 AM December 1, 2009

I think Jeanne raises a good point here. I can't really see Indonesia and Malaysia snuggling up together in some pan-Islamic caliphate, not in the current climate anyway.

Valkyrie

7:06 AM December 1, 2009

Jeanne - i'd love to see that happening, really! But, can you find one condom that will fit?

Maybe a demitasse would fit their heads like sombreros? Peabrained!

Jeanne Hachette

10:12 PM November 30, 2009

Maybe some H.T. members should put a condom on their head to avoid contaminating other people with their stupidity. I am waiting with interest to know the name of the future head of this Caliphate. I can't imagine Indonesian people bowing in front of a Malaysian leader or vice versa.

John Ralph

5:57 PM November 30, 2009

You say 200 female demonstrators urged the government to close down brothels and ban condoms, which they said encouraged “free sex and unhealthy behavior.” It is your husbands that visit these places. It is a source of income for police and bureaucrats. Wake up silly fools.

billjayman

5:15 PM November 30, 2009

Thanks Simon P. Love it when a Monty Python reference makes print!

Simon P

4:29 PM November 30, 2009

I think that the Catholic church, worldwide, would have to take the global HIV spreader award . They have condemned millions in Africa to an early grave with their every sperm is sacred policy and claims that condom use actually increases the likelihood of contacting the disease. I'm not saying that abstinence doesn't work...it does of course. But so do condoms. And seeing as human beings are genetically programmed to enjoy and desire sex I would say that that wee Casper the Ghost has a vital place in the world.

mehameha

3:24 PM November 30, 2009

They want condoms to be banned but let their husbands to have multiple wives, which means increased exposure to STD, including AIDS! Are these people brain dead or simply brainwashed?

Roland

3:17 PM November 30, 2009

Peter,

thank you for the link - a very informative reading.

Of course - as usual - certain groups still got it all completely backwards and are deliberately twisting and misinterpret facts to stir unrest and get their interests covered. Also Iran, which is governed by Sharia Law has a huge problem with the raise of HIV.

Stigmatizing minorities as homosexuals or prostitutes (here again should be rather looked into why so many women have to turn into prostitution as last resort to have their daily essentials of life) is not the solution, but only pointing dirty fingers into the wrong direction. A proper sexual education in schools would be part of a solution and I am sure if certain measurements from Western countries, populated by "Infidels" would find acceptance and could be implemented, rather than looking into backward medieval solutions would be another step into the right direction. But that again would mean acceptance that not all is perfect in Sharia law, so it will never be implemented and thousands more will be infected and die as long followers are there to believe the words of this "leaders" as the only acceptable solution!

Valkyrie

12:34 PM November 30, 2009

And don't be surprised that thousands are NOT even aware they have this deadly disease.

peterR

11:25 AM November 30, 2009

Might I suggest that the misinformed souls who believe that the implementation of Sharia and or a ban on condoms, is the solution to dealing with HIV/Aids, read an article by Islam Online, ‘AIDS.. Hidden Crisis In Arab, Islamic Countries’. It can be found at http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2003-12/01/article08.shtml

Please also note within the article a quote from Elizabeth Pisani, an epidemiologist with Aksi Stop AIDS, an AIDS prevention and care group, that Indonesia has one of the fastest growing epidemics in the World.

Religious self interest, blind ignorance, deliberate misinformation and a high handed moral approach, have only added to the spread of Aids across many areas of the World.

padt

7:20 AM November 30, 2009

Scapegoating prostitutes, drug users and homosexuals as the cause of immorality just wont rub. Its the usual ploy of the intolerant and the ignorant. And I suggest, hypocritical.

I recently asked an Indonesian friend: How sexually active are Indonesian teenagers and students? He replied: "Just as sexually active as kids anywhere else in the world." "So, for all the Muslim thing, these kids are still having sex?" "Yep, being Muslim doesn't stop them."

I notice that generally sex is not openly discussed in Indonesian society, and there is virtually no sex education in schools.

Ignorance breeds disease. Scapegoating others is a way certain people avoid confronting reality. Usually there own tendencies to be 'immoral'.

If you want to decrease AIDS in this country, decrease poverty and ignorance. Pious blathering from manipulated goody-goody students wont help.