Jakarta – Not everybody is impressed by the nationwide campaign for the use of condoms to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS. Among those who are apparently opposed to the campaign is State Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs Adhyaksa Dault.
"I don't agree that we should promote condom use as a way of preventing HIV/AIDS. That's not the way. It's more about how to steer our young people away from promiscuity," Adhyaksa said after opening an event to mark National Youth Day at his office on Friday.
He said that his opposition to the condom campaign was personal in nature, and he accepted that it had been internationally approved as a HIV/AIDS harm reduction measure.
"If that has been accepted as the international standard, so be it. But we have our own ways, including upholding our religious principles and our nationalist principles," he said as quoted by Antara.
Adhyaksa hails from the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party, which touts Islamic morality as one of its main platforms. The party has persistently campaigned against corruption and what it considers to be indecency, which it says could lead to Indonesia becoming a "failed nation".
The government has incorporated the use of condoms into its national movement against HIV/AIDS, besides the provision of sterile needles – something that has also sparked controversy. Both unsafe sex and needle-sharing play a major role in spreading HIV infection worldwide.
As of June this year, the government had definitively recorded 7,098 people living with HIV/AIDS, 40 percent of them aged between 10 and 24 years old. However, the government also estimates that up to 150,000 people could be living with HIV/AIDS, while some activists say the figure could reach one million.
The World Health Organization said in its latest report that between 20 and 30 percent of young people engage pre-marital sex globally.
Adhyaksa said he could not prevent anyone, including non-governmental organizations, from campaigning for the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV.
"Moral decadence is spreading. Therefore, we should not encourage them to use condoms. Anyway, not all condoms are leakproof," Adhyaksa said.