Ismira Lutfia & Dessy Sagita – Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring has launched another tirade against pornography, this time linking it to the country's rising HIV/AIDS rate in comments that were immediately attacked by activists who work in the field.

Tifatul said on Thursday that increased access to pornography had fueled a surge in promiscuity, which he claimed was responsible for a rise in HIV/AIDS infections in the country.

The minister, who has courted controversy in the past with statements such as the ones he made last November linking immorality and natural disasters, said the money used on HIV/AIDS programs could be better spent elsewhere.

"Every year the state spends Rp 180 billion [$19.6 million] to deal with the problems caused by [sex outside of wedlock], such as the spread of HIV/AIDS," Tifatul said. "The budget could actually be reduced and the money allocated for other things that are beneficial to the country."

However, Adithya "Edo" Wardana, the program manager for the Stigma Foundation, an NGO focusing on HIV/AIDS harm reduction, said government funding was already insufficient. "It's ridiculous to even think about reducing the budget and allocating it to other programs of dubious merit," he said.

Edo said an assessment of HIV/AIDS-related programs this year had concluded existing funding would cover just 60 percent of needed programs, while the rest would have to be covered by foreign donors.

He conceded watching pornography could lead to casual sex, but said the main cause of the spread of HIV infections was unsafe sex.

"I'm not saying casual sex is OK in Indonesia, where traditional Eastern values still prevail," he said. "But to directly link pornography to HIV is just wrong." Omar Syarif, an HIV/AIDS activist from the Indonesian Network of People Living With HIV (Jothi), said the minister's statement was in stark conflict to a decree issued by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Bali earlier this year.

He said Yudhoyono had then instructed all regional administrations to increase their efforts to tackle the rising HIV/AIDS transmission rate. "For the minister to call for the national HIV/AIDS budget to be reduced is both baseless and unwise," Omar said.

Kemal Siregar, deputy for program development at the National AIDS Commission, also said there was no reason to slash the HIV/AIDS budget, saying it had been drawn up after long and careful consideration.

"We considered every single aspect to achieve the targets set by the UN in its Millennium Development Goals," he said.