Indonesian AIDS commission rejects plan to tag sufferers

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia's AIDS commission Thursday strongly opposed a plan backed by lawmakers in Papua province to require some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips to monitor the spread of the disease.

"We've clearly rejected such a plan. This is a clear violation of human rights and operationally is not possible to be carried out," said Nafsiah Mboi, chairperson of the National AIDS Control Commission.
 Lawmakers in Indonesia's Papua province have thrown their support behind the controversial bill requiring some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips in a bid to prevent them from infecting others.

Nafsiah expressed her hope that local lawmakers in Papua would reconsider any laws that were not in line with human rights, and urged the Papuan lawmakers to conduct public hearings before the bill is passed.

Under the bylaw, which has caused an uproar among human rights activists, patients who had shown "actively sexual behavior" could be implanted with a microchip to monitor their activity.  

   
If passed, anyone found guilty by a court of law of deliberately spreading the virus could be fined up to 50 million rupiah (4,100 dollars) or given six months in jail. 

   
Lawmaker Jhon Manangsang, who supported the legislation, argued that implanting small computer chips beneath the skin would help keep tabs on "sexually aggressive" patients.   

  
However, Nafsiah said the regulation would damage the efforts already being conducted by the national AIDS control commission.

"This is not in line with the national strategy on AIDS control," she said, adding that the best way to tackle the epidemic was through further spreading of information, increased spending on sexual education and a boost in condom use campaigns.

 Indonesia is the world's fourth-most-populous country. Nafsiah said the country has one of Asia's fastest growing HIV rates, with up to 290,000 infections out of 235 million people, fueled mainly by intravenous drug users and prostitution. 

Papua, the country's easternmost province, has been hardest hit, with 15 times the infection rate of the national average. Researchers blame lack of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases for the high infection rate.  (*)