Richel Dursin, Bandung – In a classroom full of senior high school students, Budhi Setiawan was giving a lecture on reproductive health when a 16-year-old girl raised her hand and asked: Does kissing cause pregnancy?
On another occasion, Setiawan was discussing the risks of sexual activities on a live radio talk show when a 21-year-old female university student interrupted him and posed the question: Does sexual intercourse result in pregnancy?
Such questions are often heard from Indonesian youths, who experts say are mostly denied information about reproductive health by their families and school authorities.
"That is how naive Indonesian youths are," says Setiawan, who at 22 is a general medical practitioner and volunteer at Mitra Citra Remaja (MCR), a youth centre here which offers counselling, peer education training and reproductive health services to high school students.
Every Sunday evening, Setiawan hosts 'Pojok Ngeres', a radio programme on healthy lifestyles for teenagers. "Of the 10 callers that ask me over the radio, eight are sexually active," explains Setiawan, whose talk show is popular among youths from middle to upper class families and counts at least 300,000 listeners in Bandung, a city south-east of Jakarta. Most of the youngsters who consult with MCR are avid listeners of 'Pojok Ngeres'.
"Indonesian youths engage in sexual activities, but they do not know about the risks," says MCR coordinator Irawati Imran. Early marriage and sexual intercourse, involving persons under 16 years old, is prevalent in all provinces in Indonesia.
The results of the latest survey by MCR show at least 90 percent of youths in Bandung believe that premarital sex is prohibited, but more than 50 percent also say they would engage in it if there is a chance.
The findings also show that many Indonesian youths think that engaging in sexual intercourse for the first time does not cause pregnancy, that kissing can result in pregnancy, and that jumping after having sexual intercourse would flush out the sperm cells.
With the limited knowledge young Indonesians have about reproductive health, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has coordinated with the National Family Planning Coordinating Board and the non-governmental Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association in setting up six youth centres near high schools and universities in Indonesia, including one here in Bandung.
"In these youth centres, there is an education block, life skills education as we call it," says Patricia Koster, UNFPA programme officer in Jakarta. Under Indonesia's Population Law No. 10 issued in 1992, providing contraceptive services to unmarried persons is forbidden.
"Indonesian youths do not have a supportive environment where they can get information about reproductive health," Imran said. "Talking about sex is still taboo in our culture," said Ahmad Faried, one of the five medical staff of the MCR reproductive health services division. "Most of the parents think that if they teach their children about sex education, it will encourage them to engage in sexual activities."
Aside from providing counselling, peer education training and reproductive health services, youth volunteers at the centres also offer career preparation courses such as Internet usage and job interview techniques to high school and university students.
"The Internet is a gateway to our services just like the radio programme. It attracts the students to come here and they continue to do other activities such as consulting with the counsellors," Setiawan explains.
At MCR, counselling is done not only over the radio, but also through letters, e-mails, face to face and over the telephone. Through its only one hotline, MCR receives at least five callers a day. "Monday is a very busy day for us because too many youths consult with us," says Wahyudhi, coordinator of the MCR adolescent reproductive health counselling services division.
Most of the problems consulted by MCR clients, particularly high school students, concern issues like sex, unwanted pregnancy, dating, conflict with boyfriends or girlfriends, drugs, personality, and arguments with family, teachers, and friends.
Ira Dewi Jani, coordinator of the MCR reproductive health services division, recalled that she was once able to persuade an 18-year-old female senior high school student and her boyfriend not to abort their 10-week-old baby. "The student and her boyfriend promised to keep their baby, but their parents did not want and the girl was forced to have her baby aborted," Jani laments. "That is our dilemma."
MCR volunteers reach out to sex workers, who are mostly in their teens. Twice a week in the evening, volunteers assigned at the AIDS community and development division of MCR educate sex workers, who are scattered near big hotels in Bandung and surrounded by pimps, about reproductive health and sexually transmitted diseases.
MCR provides free medical check-ups to the sex workers, whose ages range from 15 to 23, every Wednesday. "In reaching out to the sex workers, we hope that we can change their behaviour," said Fahmi Arizal, coordinator of the AIDS community and development division of MCR. "It is difficult to stop them from working as prostitutes, but at least we can minimise the risks of their sexual activities," says Arizal, whose group advocates the use of condoms.
MCR volunteers reach out to the sex workers twice a week, and have earned their trust. "We do not despise them, but we make them realise that their occupation is wrong," says Ruby Mangunsong, one of the MCR volunteers who counsels the sex workers.
There are 30 youth volunteers at MCR. Of these, eight have been trained as peer educators to organise weekly discussions at MCR with their friends about reproductive health, sexual behaviour, risks of sexual activities.
"Never give in to your boyfriend's demand or else you would suffer. Your schooling would be in danger and your family and peers would shun you," Anie Purwantie, a 17-year-old peer educator says, recounting her experience in advising a friend, a high-school student. Like Purwantie, 17-year-old Mira Sifra Mantaha, another peer educator, has succeeded in convincing a friend not to engage in premarital sex.
Apart from the weekly discussions, the peer educators write articles and make wall magazines about adolescent reproductive health that they distribute to Bandung high schools.
This year, MCR plans to recruit another eight peer educators and to reach out to senior high school students and out-of-school youths, aged from 15 to 20. "We want to become an excellent adolescent reproductive health services centre," says Imran.
However, some government officials and school authorities do not view their efforts the same way. "Our main problem is the bureaucrats. Just to do a simple activity, it takes months. Sometimes if they allow us to hold a lecture, they find it hard to schedule," Imran recounts.
"It takes time to get in touch with the education authorities. They see the value of reproductive health education, but they have too many considerations," adds Setiawan. "They believe that such things should not be taught in schools. For them, schools should just teach the students to have good grades, how they can graduate and get to higher educational institutions."