Men's resistance to condom use will transform moderate-risk Indonesia into a country with the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the region within a few years, the Commission on AIDS in Asia has warned.

The commission projected in its latest report that Indonesia would see the number of people living with the virus grow significantly, even exceeding those in high-risk neighboring countries, due to its "limited success" in implementing preventive measures.

The report, presented at the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico earlier this month, said that Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Tamil Nadu and high prevalence Indian states are among countries with high HIV/AIDS infection risks that have seen success in prevention.

Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Nepal, Vietnam and low-prevalence states of India are among countries with moderate risk but limited success in prevention campaigns.

Secretary to the National AIDS Commission (KPA) Nafsiah Mboi told a press conference here Wednesday there was no difference in the approaches used by Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia to prevent the spread of the deadly disease.

"Our preventive measures have yet to reach optimum success because many high-risk people here still refuse to use condoms even though we have actually managed to reach them (in the condom use campaign). This is different from Cambodia, for example, where people are willing to comply with the government campaign for use of condoms," she said.

According to KPA deputy secretary for development, Kemas Siregar, only 5 percent of the adult male population in the country are customers of commercial sexual workers, compared with 20 percent of adult males in Thailand.

However, only 30 percent of this high-risk population in Indonesia is willing to use condoms.

Indonesia's promiscuous males' poor responsiveness in the age of multiple sexual partners is another reason for the country's worsening status.

In Thailand and Cambodia, Nafsiah said, the number of males visiting commercial sex workers under the age of 15 has been drastically declining. In Indonesia, by contrast, men still look for teenage girls as young as 11 or 12, a group more vulnerable to infection.

Kemal said if Indonesia failed to improve its preventive measures against HIV/AIDS infection, the country's number of people living with the disease would rise from the current 12,686 to in excess of 1 million by 2020.

Nafsiah said the growth would be attributable mostly to the growing number of male commercial sex customers, followed by the increasing number of gays.

"Stigma like being sinners are still heavily attached to these gay people, resulting in their hiding and our difficulties in reaching them," she said.

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