Maftuh's cause of death: HIV-positive, so what?

Emmy Fitri ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 06/27/2008 10:06 AM  |  Opinion

These days, we think, are better than the days of yesteryear: People have more liberty to be who they are, freed from stigma and stereotype. We think these days people are less self-righteous, more accepting and open to differences.

In fact, this is only wishful thinking, made a distant dream by the carnage of ignorance and vindictiveness. We still very much live with these things.

It has nothing to do with the sexy issues of faith-based conflicts, corruption at the prosecutor's office or the embarrassing political defeat of once-a-mighty party that infest media headlines lately.

Spare a thought for the family of Maftuh Fauzi, 27, who died last week a month after being involved in a clash with police at National University (Unas) in Jakarta.

While media reported his family has accepted the loss, it must be unbearable. The agony must be compounded with the controversy over the cause of Maftuh's death, recklessly stirred up first by the hospital where the late Unas student received treatment, and later aggravated by media.

First the hospital -- Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta -- announced that Maftuh died of an infection. Hospital executives said a CT-scan had not revealed any sign of injury to Maftuh's head.

Later, hospital executives held another conference. The hospital's vice medical director Widya Sarkawi said: "Based on our examination the patient died of HIV."

"Died of HIV" is a remarkably premature conclusion of a supposedly thorough medical examination. The virus attacks the human immune system and eventually turns into AIDS, but neither is what directly kills people.

What is lethal are the opportunistic diseases, which can be any pathogen when a person has a weakened immune system. The virus, HIV and AIDS all create the perfect environment for pathogens.

The Pertamina doctors should have known the simple math on HIV better. As a health issue, it is charged with social, cultural and political meanings, especially here where past governments have denied the widespread cases of HIV/AIDS.

It explains why things are so delicate whenever talking about HIV/AIDS here, partly caused by the past governments and religious leaders' attitude toward this disease, to label it a cursed disease only caught by sinners. It sheds light on why people stigmatize and turn away from people with HIV/AIDS.

Yet hospital employees, according to the director, admitted they knew they were not supposed to disclose such information to the public without permission from Maftuh's family, saying only "but we were asked to announce it, so we did".

But media did not report who asked the hospital to announce it and on what grounds.

Perhaps it is time to take it easy on HIV/AIDS -- without ignoring it -- and stop taking distance, frowning and condemning whoever has the virus.

Speaking of stigma, the country has a long history of practicing prejudice. It must ring bells for many people, especially those who survived the 1965 coup, which was blamed on the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party.

Labeling members of the then banned party was like a life sentence, effectively shunning people from getting access to public services, education and even to social lives.

That's just an example of how strong government-sponsored practices can be in stigmatizing people. The effects remain with us even today.

So, back to Maftuh's case. The hospital's claim was booed by Unas students, who believed their friend died as a result of wounds inflicted by police officers. Witnesses said they saw Maftuh was beaten by police officers during the rally.

What does it mean? Would the students cheer -- and not boo -- if the hospital announced he had died of severe wounds after being beaten and kicked during the rally and then put in police detention?

Did they boo the announcement because it was hard to believe, that their friend Maftuh was not like what they know of people with HIV? What are people with HIV like? Are they different in a way that they deserve different treatment?

What's wrong with HIV? If it's true, isn't it something that should be cause for sadness too?

The stigma still lingers.

HIV/AIDS-related stories here are heavily shadowed with prevailing stigma which prevent people from getting their basic rights, including earning money, getting health services and even to living in a neighborhood.

There are thousands of people with HIV out there battling to continue their lives as "normally" as possible with all the limited access to normal lives.

It seems that the hospital, or whoever it is, knows how to silence students by mentioning HIV and ridding the students from a medical inquiry, which is truly not the students' territory. The hospital executives must have thought what most of us are thinking -- the unbearable thought of having a family member, a friend or even an acquaintance with HIV.

Sadly, it works.

The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.

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