Inter Press Service - August 14, 2002
Richel Dursin

Bewildered, the driver refused to accept the condom. But after the woman explained why she was distributing it, he took the condom and put it in his wallet.

Baby Jim Aditya, an independent HIV/AIDS activist, told the truck driver, "Condoms would prevent you, your wife, and infant from getting infected with sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS."

Every weekend since 1996, Aditya has been on the road talking to intercity truckers who ply the highways and byways along Java's northern coast.

Apart from giving them information on HIV/AIDS and the use of condoms, Aditya advises them to be faithful to their partners. "Drivers have sex with commercial sex workers because they travel frequently and are far away from their partners," she says.

In a day, she hands out more than 10 condoms. Most of the time, drivers ask her why she distributes them free. Some accept the condoms, but others do not because they are embarrassed. Sometimes, they ask what the condom is for.

But every time Aditya mentions the word "condom", she is sure of a reaction. Drivers may laugh or are silent. Some get angry.

Aditya's involvement with HIV/AIDS began in 1988, a year after the first HIV-positive person was detected in Indonesia. "I realised how fast the virus spreads and that unsafe sex practices could put the wife and the unborn in danger of being infected," says the 39-year-old activist, who is a fashion designer in south Jakarta and also actively involved in theatre.

Aditya also asks drivers to paint their trucks with anti-HIV/AIDS slogans. One slogan reads: AIDS 'dapat menurun ke anak dalam kandungan' (AIDS could be inherited by the unborn child).

"The campaign is simply about man's involvement and responsibility to his wife, who has the right to remain healthy," observes Aditya, who has also been organising candlelight vigils twice a year since 1996 as part of the anti-HIV/AIDS campaign.

A number of local manufacturers and distributors supply Aditya with condoms, which she gives not only to truck drivers, but also to commercial sex workers.

In 1996, the government issued a regulation making condom use compulsory in commercial sex transactions, but implementing this is naturally another matter.

Aditya thus goes to red light districts and advises sex workers about safe sex practices. Besides distributing condoms, she teaches the women ways to negotiate condom use with their clients.

She also appeals to them to look for alternative means of livelihoods because of the risks involved in their work, like contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV.

In 1995, she organised a musical drama entitled 'Sentuhan-sentuhan Warna' (Touches of Colour), played by former sex workers from the now-defunct Kramat Tunggak brothel complex.

The latest data from the Indonesian National AIDS Commission shows that the HIV infection rate has increased sharply among male and female sex workers, although anonymous HIV testing of sex workers from 1988 showed virtually no HIV infections for a decade.

However, the picture appears to be changing. Among sex workers it had risen in 2001 to 17 percent in Jakarta, 26.5 percent in one place in the far east of the country, and 8 percent in an area in the far west, the commission reports.

Often, sex workers do not stay in one place for longer than a year - mobility is thus a factor in the pandemic's spread. Other than their clients, they also often have partners.

"HIV infection could be reduced by making people aware of the dangers of the virus and how it could spread to other people, who are not necessarily those in high-risk groups," Aditya believes.

The AIDS Commission says close to half the more than 1,600 male respondents in a study in Jakarta, Surabaya and Manado, many of whom are truckers, reported paying for sex in 2000. Most of the respondents were married men.

Conservative estimates suggest that six million Indonesian men buy sex annually, on average of a little less than once a month, and that there are at least half a million female sex workers. U.N. figures say sex workers have an average of seven partners in a week - low compared to sex workers in Thailand at height of the pandemic there.

Condom use is still low in Indonesia, though the health ministry reports that condom sales have gone up to 68 million last year from 28 million in 1996.

Indeed, Aditya says, "it's hard to ascertain whether people really use the condoms or not".

Just like in many countries, condom promotion for the prevention of STDs and HIV/AIDS is a sensitive issue in Indonesia.

"Condom promotion for the control of STDs is not culturally accepted yet in Indonesia," observes Haikin Rachmat, division director for the eradication of contagious diseases at the Ministry of Health. Many Indonesians think that promoting condom use encourages the young to have sex, and married people to have extramarital sexual relations.

"Men don't enjoy having sex if they use condoms. But still we must promote condom use to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS," says Aditya.

There are 80,000 to 120,000 people living with HIV in Indonesia and the Ministry of Health has warned of an HIV/AIDS epidemic due to an increasing trend in prostitution, domestic and international migration, tourism industry, urbanisation and poverty.

Aditya admits she gets frustrated by the authorities' lack of adequate action in fighting HIV/AIDS. "Sometimes I get angry with the government because of its hypocrisy. It keeps on hiding the reality and denying the truth hampers all efforts to solve the problem," she explains.

Her inspiration in her anti-HIV campaign lies in her two sons, Gior Getarcipta, 17, and Zaro Megagenta, 13. "My two sons help me with my work. Sometimes they bring their friends over to our house to talk about HIV/AIDS," Aditya says proudly. (END/IPS/AP/HE/HD/RD/AN/JS/02)

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