Calls to microchip HIV sufferers

AM - Tuesday, 25 November , 2008  08:15:00
Reporter: GEOFF THOMPSON

TONY EASTLEY: A local doctor and legislator in the Indonesian province of Papua has sparked outrage by announcing that he expects to pass a bylaw today which will make it legal to microchip Papuans with HIV/AIDS.

Dr John Manangsang says the plan has the backing of the provincial parliament and will enable authorities to monitor the activities of "sexually aggressive" Papuans with disease.

The bylaw proposal has been condemned as an abuse of human rights by AIDS activists.

Jakarta Correspondent, GEOFF THOMPSON reports.

GEOFF THOMPSON: HIV/AIDS is a real problem in Papua. Infection rates there are at least 15-times Indonesia's national average and AusAid has projected that by 2025 up to seven per cent of Papuans will have the disease; a figure comparable to some African countries.

A member of the Papuan provincial parliament, Dr. John Manangsang, thinks he has the answer: implanting computer microchips under the skin of Papuans with HIV/AIDs.

"This microchip idea is my own idea," Dr Manangsang said last night.

"Seeing that the number and spread of HIV in Papua is so high, I've been researching it and found online that microchips can be used in humans so I am convinced that this can help us detect signals related to the spread of HIV in society", he said.

Dr Manangsang's plan even made it on to the front page of one of Indonesia's leading English-language dailies, the Jakarta Post. The story was seen online by Brian Haill, of the Melbourne-based AIDS charity, the Australian Aids Fund.

BRIAN HAILL: My immediate response was how appalling is the timing of such a plan? In other words we're only a week out from the global observance of World Aids Day on December one and all of us in this aids area realise that it's the matter of stigma and discrimination that's turbo charging the spread of the virus.

And this is the last sort of thing we want to hear about just now.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Dr Manangsang's understanding of how his microchipping scheme would work is confused to say the least. He seems to think that the microchips, which he wants to plant in what he calls "sexually aggressive" people, would be linked to satellites and somehow send off alarms when an infected person has sex with uninfected person.

But no such technology exists.

Dr Nafsiah Mboi is the Secretary of Indonesia's National AIDS Commission. She says Papua's Governor is unlikely to approve the bylaw even if it is passed by Papua's parliament.

NAFSIAH MBOI: It's against human rights and we will never accept it.

GEOFF THOMPSON: It does sound like it's a bit of pie in the sky, wacky legislator nonsense really.

NAFSIAH MBOI: Yes sir, exactly.

TONY EASTLEY: Dr Nafsiah Mboi the Secretary of Indonesia's National AIDS Commission. Geoff Thompson the reporter.