Some are calling it the actions of a "Hitler wanna-be," but the government of Indonesia thinks it's a win-win solution: known HIV/AIDS patients in a specific region of the country will be tagged with radio frequency identification chips as an effort to combat the spreading disease.
Lawmakers in Indonesia's remote province of Papua are set to pass the controversial legislature that aims to track those with "sexually aggressive behavior." Authorities argue that the micro radio chips would put them in a better position to identify and track those who deliberately infect others, with punishment ranging from up to six months in jail or a $5,000 fine. The idea is to scare people into abstinence.
The Associated Press writes:
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country and has one of Asia's fastest growing HIV rates, with up to 290,000 infections out of 235 million people, fueled mainly by intravenous drug users and prostitution.
But Papua, the country's easternmost and poorest province with a population of about 2 million, has been hardest hit. Its case rate of almost 61 per 100,000 is 15 times the national average, according to internationally funded research, which blames lack of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases.
According to Nancy Fee, the UNAIDS country coordinator, she was unaware of any other country in the world with initiatives to combat HIV/AIDS with microchips. Like many other health care workers and activists in Indonesia, she believes it will only push the problems further underground and off the radar.
Other activists have cited Indonesia as extremely poor when it comes to sexual education. Condom use is hardly promoted, birth control methods are barely available, and few resources exist providing education on STDs or even planned parenthood. Ritual "swinging," or group sex, also occurs fairly regularly amongst Papua tribes.
One columnist on the Gizmodo blog wonders if lawmaker's "Plan B" is to just put AIDS/HIV patients "in camps, or shoot them straight away."
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