Jakarta – The effectiveness of the government's plan to cage fowls in residential areas as a move to curb the spread of the deadly avian influenza virus has been met with skepticism.

The Indonesia Consumers Foundation chief Husna Zahier said Sunday that the plan would be ineffective without a careful study of poultry and the relationship with their owners.

"If people don't keep their habitat and poultry cages clean, then the policy would be pretty much useless," she told The Jakarta Post.

Further details, such as the type of poultry, quantity, purpose for keeping fowls and place where people keep them make a difference in how effective the regulation will be, she asserted.

"Keeping birds or poultry as a hobby or for eggs or meat is not the same," she said.

The National Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Preparedness (FBPI), the body responsible for controlling the H5N1 virus spread, should pay special attention to the culture of the affected areas, she said.

"People handle poultry differently according to their customs and habits. This should be studied well in order to ensure effective monitoring," she said.

The central government announced last week that fowls would be separated from people in urban residential areas. The UN's Food and Agricultural Organization will assist the government in setting the time frame for the program.

Indonesia has the highest number of bird flu deaths in the world, with 55 fatalities out of 75 cases.

Jakarta, West Java and Central Java have seen the most people infected with the H5N1 virus.

Sociologist Ida Ruwaidi told the Post on Sunday that the quantity of birds, chickens and ducks that people kept in residential areas also matters tremendously.

"The large quantity of the poultry stock means that the whole community in the area, not just the local administration or fowl owners, should also take responsibility," she said.

Ida added that people's mind-set, both individual and collectively, needed to be changed to allow effective implementation.

"Without victims, many people will see the policy as just another regulation. Once someone in their area is infected by the H5N1 virus, then they would readily follow the procedure," the sociologist said.

Ida said that this regulation should be supported by a massive bio-security awareness campaign to change people's mind-set.

"The mass media, especially the broadcast media, is the most effective for raising awareness. Educational institutions and places of worship should also encourage the community to take charge in monitoring," Ida said.

She said that this would need painstaking and concerted efforts before it became second nature. Everybody in affected subdistricts, she said, should be authorized to enforce social control.

"Individuals in affected areas could be given the authority to monitor whether their neighbors have caged their fowls or let them run around in their yard," she said.

She added that besides culling, the government needed to add more facilities and monitor the caging implementation on a regular basis.

"Funding used to be the problem. Now it's up to people how much they want the eradication of avian influenza to be successful," Ida said.

Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie says the government has pledged to allocate Rp 100 billion in order to assist public health facilities in monitoring and treating patients with symptoms of avian influenza.