D

oes President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono think safeguarding Indonesia'€™s religious norms and (Eastern) cultural values is more important than preventing thousands of Indonesians from dying unnecessarily?

This is certainly the impression that one gets when reading his tweet on Dec. 10: '€œCondoms are effective in preventing HIV/AIDS, but we must not go wrong in the way we '€˜promote'€™ it. We have religious norms and an Eastern culture'€.

Big deal. What he means by '€œprotecting religious norms and Eastern culture'€ simply means buckling under '€” yet again '€” to the pressure of religious conservatives and hardliners '€” and to his own pseudo-moralism and cowardice.

Did you know that religious hardliners and Yudhoyono have something in common? Both use condoms '€” over their heads. This is the only way they could possibly remain oblivious to the hard facts and reality about the worrying spread of HIV/AIDS in Indonesia.

Both seem trapped in hypocritical and sanctimonious rhetoric, and actually, fear (only fearful people talk the way they do, in a self-righteous manner). Both claim the right to lead, but continue to prove their inability to do so.

So if he doesn'€™t like us Easterners rolling on the rubber, what'€™s Yudhyono'€™s solution to stop the spread of HIV? His reply in another tweet '€œThe most potent way to tackle HIV is by closing brothels and campaign against free sex.'€

What? Has he not heard? Prostitution is not called the oldest profession in the world for nothing! History shows it can be localized, legalized or regulated, but never eliminated. Closing down brothels means driving them underground, thus reducing even further the possibility to provide education on HIV/AIDS and condom use. So Mr. President, your '€œsolution'€ is potent all right '€” it will spread the virus even faster!

'€œCampaign against free sex'€? Yeah right '€” does anyone think that will change the raunchy, adulterous, sex-loving people that we Indonesians are? A few years ago a survey revealed that one in three men in Indonesia were unfaithful to their wives. Hmmm, that few?

The number of innocent wives who get infected by their wayward, non-condom-using, prostitute-frequenting husbands, is ever increasing. These wives are having legitimate, religious and state-sanctioned sex, and they still get infected. If they become pregnant, then their babies get infected too. Are the babies having free-sex inside their mother'€™s wombs?

And yet another great solution from our tweeting President: '€œThe most important way to prevent HIV/AIDS is to restrain one'€™s self from doing things that will get them infected.'€

Doing things? Hmmm'€¦ could that possibly mean sex?

Perhaps Yudhyono should learn from the cases of Mississippi, Arizona, Arkansas and Texas that tried to combat teen pregnancy by '€œabstinence-only'€ education. Guess what? These are the four states in the US that have the highest rates of teen pregnancy. Go figure.

There are clearly serious alternatives to crossing your legs. According to a 2013 UNAIDS report, as a result of decades of sustained education and preventive measures on HIV/AIDS, the number of infected has fallen worldwide. In Cambodia, Thailand and India for example, the number of new cases has reduced by more than 50 percent, despite people still '€œdoing things'€.

However, there are nine countries that have failed to curb the spread of the virus. Yes, you guessed it: Indonesia'€™s one of them! The number aged between 15 to 49 with AIDS increased by 25 percent between 2001 to 2011, while the current total number is estimated at about 0.25 percent of the population '€” almost 600,000. That'€™s 6 times more than 7 years ago.

Yes, there are few statistical sources in Indonesia that could be regarded as reliable, but whatever the exact numbers, it looks pretty clear we have an epidemic on our hands. In fact, we'€™ve had one for the last 15 years. So can we stop with the moralizing cant and actually do something sensible?

Not like what happened last week. In observation of World AIDS Day held on Dec. 1, a National Condom Week was held between Dec. 1-7 by the AIDS Prevention Commission (KPA) and a private condom distributor DKT Indonesia. Then the religious conservatives reared their ugly heads and slammed the campaign as being a license to engage in sexual promiscuity. So, it was canceled. Talk about getting the wrong end of the stick.

What to do? Should we emulate Soeharto'€™s repressive New Order, whose family planning program was considered successful and recognized internationally? Unfortunately, it was a done at the cost of women'€™s reproductive and health rights, with women being herded by the military to the family planning clinics to have IUDs inserted and no check-ups afterwards. It didn'€™t matter if the woman was bleeding, as long as the number of '€œtarget acceptors'€ was reached.

Or we can learn from Thailand, which has its very own '€œMr. Condom'€, the term of endearment for Mechai Viravaidya, founder and chair of Thailand'€™s Population and Community Development Association. Mechai considers condoms as '€œweapons of mass protection'€ '€” with good reason. Thanks to Mechai, the number of children was reduced from 7 per family in 1974 to just 1.5 in 2000. He used the same approach when HIV/AIDS started to spread in Thailand, famous for its sex tourism. '€œIn rubber we trust'€, he quipped.

The result: new cases of HIV/AIDS declined by 90 percent and 7.7 million lives were saved. Furthermore, 90 percent of the funding came from Thailand. '€œThere was political commitment, financial commitment and everybody joined in the fight.'€ Check out his 2010 TED talk. It'€™s inspiring '€” and entertaining too!

In Indonesia, people are fighting '€” with each other '€” on how to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, and failing to save lives. In Indonesia, we take our cue from our leaders. So Pak President, please take the lead, and be Indonesia'€™s Mr. Condom. Otherwise you and your Cabinet will end up being remembered as grim reapers!

The writer is the author of Julia'€™s Jihad.