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Conspiracy goes to court in bird flu case

How many times in our lives do we get a glowing chance, right before our eyes, to use someone's suffering to gain popularity-- even if it means acting against your sanity? Imagine the grave (in)significance of the following case

Emmy Fitri (The Jakarta Post)
Mon, March 10, 2008

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Conspiracy goes to court in bird flu case

How many times in our lives do we get a glowing chance, right before our eyes, to use someone's suffering to gain popularity-- even if it means acting against your sanity?

Imagine the grave (in)significance of the following case. A family, represented by a health legal aid lawyer, has filed a lawsuit against the United States government and the World Health Organization, following the death of a family member caused by bird flu infection.

The lawsuit, made on behalf of Sarmili, the father of Nasrudin who died in East Jakarta's Persahabatan Hospital last month, was filed Tuesday at the Central Jakarta District Court.

What great coverage this country, which has been hit hardest by the ravaging avian influenza, will get from international media, even if the accusation is only close to being reasonable. Indonesia will not only crack open an alleged grand conspiracy of a pending World War III, but also perhaps earn a respectable seat at the UN with special veto rights.

A milestone in the global fight against perceived injustices is in the making. While there must be a buzz of anticipation over what's next after this lawsuit, it is still better to bear that in mind, even if the accusation is only close to being reasonable.

On behalf of Sarmili, the legal aid institute has based the lawsuit on information written by Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari in her book Saatnya Dunia Berubah! Tangan Tuhan di Balik Virus Flu Burung (It's Time to Change the World! Divine Hands behind Bird Flu).

In her book, the minister alleged WHO insiders underhandedly leaked the flu virus, shared voluntarily with them by the Indonesian government, to the U.S. government, who later stored the virus in a secret laboratory. The minister believed the virus strain was to be used in the superpower's manufacturing of bioweapons.

First, the book has been withdrawn by the author reportedly due to "inaccuracies" in the translation, and visiting U.S. Defense Minister Robert Gates has shaken off the very idea that his country had designed lethal bioweapons using avian virus.

It is wise to cool off while waiting for the finger-pointing to recede. Otherwise, the accusation the family is using to sue the U.S. government and the WHO would also fall apart, if prosecutors fail to get Minister Supari to testify in the courtroom to strengthen the allegations.

Filing a lawsuit is a serious matter, but using so-called facts from a book which has been withdrawn and stirred nothing but controversy for a serious legal case is an unfunny joke.

Second, it has been general knowledge, even among elementary school students, that bird flu virus or H5N1 originates from fowls and is mostly caught by humans due to their genetic susceptibility and unhygienic practices. The infection is lethal but curable in the early stages, and most importantly, is preventable.

Our chickens are not those imported from the U.S. They range freely in our residential areas but we simply turn a blind eye rather than wondering if they are hosts of diseases that also can infect humans. Moreover, while our unhygienic practices may seem harmless, they take their toll if we fail to adapt to the current environment.

The virus that infected Nasrudin was probably not sent in an envelope like the anthrax sent to the Hart Senate Office building on Oct. 15, 2001, in Washington D.C. Around the same time the virus was mailed to the offices of NBC, CBS, ABC and the New York Post. Did Nasrudin open a mailed letter prior to his ailment? Or did he have contact with dead chickens or stroll past chicken carcasses?

It's too odd and complicated to link Nasrudin's death with whatever biowarfare technology is being developed by another country.

We probably have not tired of the great stories of post-cold war tactics, when superpower countries devised new ways of anticipating wars-- in other words, creating defense technology. The world will never forget that Russia had the Zagorsk Virological Center where biologists made and tended to a stockpile of weapons-grade smallpox, or the Al-Manal laboratory in Baghdad, disclosed by the UN as Iraq's virus-weapons development facility.

Such stories grow very well, sprinkled with intrigue and heroic intelligence operations here and there in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In reality over here, it sounds like a far-flung idea to link a death of a Jakartan with those great conspiracy theories.

It's perhaps even better to encourage the bereaved family to sue chicken owners or the chicken kingdom, if a legal war must be waged.

The lawsuit -- with all due respect -- is baseless and insignificant, but it is out there and real and could be counter productive to ongoing campaigns trying to prevent the spread of bird flu.

Losing a family member is a terrible loss, and anyone would agree that fighting for justice for a loved one is a noble cause worthy of praise and support. However, why not take on your closest enemies before aiming high to shoot (un)related parties? People's resistance to repeated calls for better sanitary and hygienic practices remains the main enemy.

And with all due respect to the honorable court and its legal standing, this case only constitutes supreme futility. It's way too easy to ride on the wave of a virus to grab attention, really.

The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post. She can be reached at emmy@thejakartapost.com.

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