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"INTERMISSION: Desperate
times, desperate measures"
New
Straits Times (www.nst.com.my)
(15/06/05) Zainul Arifin
FREE syringes and condoms to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS? I never thought
the idea could ever be broached in Malaysia, much less openly debated. But
it was. Credit must be given to the Health Minister for proposing something
that is unlikely to make him popular, except to a minority. Rejections,
including by all religious groups, stem from the fact that drug addiction,
promiscuity and homosexuality are not only reprehensible but sinful.
They are to be abhorred and condemned, and supplying needles and condoms
would be tantamount to condoning and promoting them. Some things are
non-negotiable, regardless of what the bleeding-heart liberals say. Those in
support of the proposal see it as one of the ways to stem the HIV threat,
which at the moment has no cure and could turn into a crisis. Desperate
times call for desperate measures. As for moralising, who are we to do so?
To each his own; live and let live. Religious zealots and conservatives
should lighten up. Such righteousness and indignation, on either side of the
divide, will not advance the debate on HIV/AIDS. It is with us and is
unlikely to go away no matter how loud we scream our heads off.
Opposition to drug abuse and promiscuity, especially homosexuality, is
fairly central to the tenets of all our religions and cultures. Drug
addiction and HIV are due to reckless living, a lifestyle choice, the
consequences of which some see as poetic justice. For a discussion to begin,
however, there has to be a quantum leap in our thinking, to move it beyond
the dictates of our religions and cultures. Any discussion would need the
lively participation of all religious groups and communities. Because of
their great influence, religious and community leaders must step into the
discussion. There are debates, too, with regard to organ donations and
transplants, especially between people of different faiths, but religious
leaders have helped clear the confusion.
Malay/Muslim leaders, especially, must do a considerable amount of
soul-searching on this matter, for it is their kind who are most affected by
HIV, and its further spread is likely to be in their community rather than
the others. But can we suspend our disgust of drugs and promiscuity? If we
cannot, then this proposal is dead in the water.
Perhaps we need to look at HIV as purely a medical phenomenon. Imagine a
medical practitioner making the tough decision of amputating a limb, with
the greater good of saving the patient in mind. The issue is that HIV is
spread through bodily fluids, most commonly via the sharing of needles by
intravenous drug users and unsafe sex. HIV is also tragically transmitted to
unborn children by infected mothers and, rarely, through blood transfusions
and organ transplants. Except for the latter two, most of the means of
transmission can be mitigated if we stop the spread at source — eliminate
contaminated syringes as well as unsafe sex practices.
Here lies the crux of the argument for the proponents of needle exchange and
free condom distribution. Of course the best solution is abstention — from
random sexual partners, either heterosexual or homosexual, and from
intravenous drug use. Education and the inculcation of morals and values
are important and should be our guiding principles.
That would be ideal. But human beings, as our experience has shown us, are
weak. We steal when we shouldn’t, lie when we should be telling the truth,
kill when we should nurture, are tempted by corruption when we must be
honest, and, of course, promiscuous when fidelity is called for. We also
seek refuge in mind-bending chemicals, when we should lead clean and sober
lives. The vast majority of us are not in the high-risk category, and we are
comforted into believing that neither are the ones who matter most to us. We
should all pray that we remain that way. I had a friend who is believed to
have succumbed to AIDS.
We
spoke about his death in whispers and what a loss it was for his family. A
smart, athletic, intelligent undergraduate, and with a scholarship from a
Fortune 500 company to boot, he experimented with drugs in college for fun.
But he soon went for the harder stuff and down went all the dreams of those
around him. I am not sure if he would have been saved by clean needles, but
the moral of the story is that it can happen to anyone. Some argue about the
cost of the programme, which I believe is rather inconsequential.
The
Health Ministry has even suggested that it would cost much less than the
RM500 million a year that would otherwise have to be spent in treating
HIV-positive and AIDS patients. Legally speaking though, if we agree to the
needle exchange programme, how would we implement it when drug addiction is
against the law, and addicts can be arrested?
In
other countries, syringes and condoms are given out for free by government
clinics and volunteer groups, with no questions asked. Can we do it here? It
would mean closing one eye to people who are essentially law- breakers.
While some people are fairly comfortable with their stand on this issue,
whichever side of the fence they may be on, I, like most, am wrestling with
the philosophical, ethical and religious issues in the debate. At the end of
the day, free needles and condoms or not, HIV and AIDS are not going
anywhere, and neither is drug addiction nor reckless promiscuity.
Thus, where do we go from here? Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. In
a no-win situation, we probably have to figure out how we can lose the
least.
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