Activists from Indonesia, not yet recovered from the traumatic incident of physical and rights violations during the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP10) at the end of August, have been further shocked by breaking news from South Sulawesi. On Monday (12 September 2011), Tribun Timur, a local newspaper in Makassar, released details of a plan led by the Vice Governor of South Sulawesi, Agus Arifin Nu’mang, to create an HIV village for those living with the virus.
Nu’mang admitted he is going to go to Thailand for a comparative study, prior to the creation of the village. He is scheduled to travel to Thailand next week (September 23 – 26, 2011) where he will study the pattern of the existing localisation of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Thailand. He said he will learn the procedure and management of localisation in order to avoid “offence” against PLHIV.
“If everything is running on schedule, I will go to Thailand on September 23 – 26 to learn from the existing HIV/AIDS village there,” Nu’mang, who is also the Chief Operation Officer of Provincial AIDS Commission in South Sulawesi, explained. He said the idea of the village has come about due to a rapid increase of PLHIV in South Sulawesi. At the end of July (2011) there were 3,918 PLHIV in the province, up from 2,400 the previous year.
The rapid growth of the epidemic is certainly something that everyone should be aware of. However, we need to think deeper and further regarding the solutions. An uproar quickly generated after news of the village broke. So far the National AIDS Commission has not issued any statement or response.
HIV activists are outraged by the plan. HIV is not socially contagious so the idea of isolating PLHIV in one localised area is deemed to be unrealistic, illogical and extremely stigmatising.