Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Around 500 locals and religious leaders staged a rally around the Provincial legislature in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province, protesting the prolonged supply of liquor and sex workers with HIV/AIDS from other provinces that has infected many people in the southern part of the country's easternmost province.
The demonstrators marched around the building while holding banners reading: Grill and prosecute security apparatus involved in the Mappi case, The Indonesian Military is the protector of the people, not the killer of the people and AIDS has claimed many lives in Papua.
They said that the fatal disease could infect all Papuan people and ultimately exterminate backward Papuan tribes, unless concrete measures were taken to control the fast spread of the disease.
Corrupt security personnel have been accused of supplying liquor and sex workers from Java and Sulawesi to locals in Assue in their bid to collect the prized wood gaharu (a type of fragrant wood) in the regency. The sex workers with HIV/AIDS have contributed to the spread of the fatal disease in the regency.
The Forum of Care for Assue, which organized the mass rally, called on the government to stop the sale of liquor and gambling and prostitution in Mappi regency, which has damaged social life over the last 10 years.
So far, 35 people with AIDS have been detected while many more with HIV have gone undetected because of their isolation in remote areas in the regency.
Rev. Yus Felix Wewengkang, director of Solidarity, Justice and Peace in Merauke Diocese, warned that the Awyu and Wiyagar tribes inhabiting the newly formed regency would be eliminated within five to 10 years because of the fast spread of HIV unless concrete measures were immediately taken.
The Mappi issue has attracted the concern of local churches and non-governmental organizations as the local government has turned a blind eye to the issue.
"In the 1,900 square-kilometer Assue subdistrict with 15 villages and a total population of 9,500, there are 12 bars and entertainment centers offering many kinds of liquor, sex workers and gambling machines," said Rev. Wewengkang.
Local activists have blamed the gaharu trade for the inflow of liquor and sex workers in the regency.
Hundreds of ships from Java, Sulawesi and Malaysia have come almost every month since 1995 to the regency to supply gaharu gatherers and to transport the high-priced commodity to be supplied to the international market.
Over the last few years, the business has been backed by unauthorized security personnel who usually offered prostitutes, many of whom have HIV/AIDS, to gain support for the business from tribal chiefs and informal leaders in the regency.
Many people who earn from the sale of gaharu, frequent the entertainment centers and bars offering prostitutes.
The sex workers who come from Surabaya, Manado, Timika and Agats often go to villages in remote areas to offer their services to locals and gaharu gatherers.
Jacobus Yufu, a tribal chief in Assue, lamented the poor condition in his hometown, saying that gaharu's fame has destroyed traditional values in Mappi and trapped local people into illicit sex with the inevitable consequence of the fast spread of HIV/AIDS in the regency.
He called on the government to prohibit the collection of the precious wood and the sale of liquor and to close down entertainment centers in the regency.
People with HIV/AIDS have also been detected in neighboring regencies Merauke and Timika, giving the province the highest rank in the spread of the disease in the country. According to the recent study, the number of people with HIV/AIDS in the province has reached more than 15,000.