LSF facing criticism for film poster ban

Friday, December 23, 2005
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta


Director Rudi Soedjarwo was furious, but nervous at the same time. The Film Censorship Board (LSF) recently ordered the withdrawal of the poster for Rudy's upcoming film Sembilan Naga (Nine Dragons) before it had even been released.
The reasons were baffling: The poster features a caption reading "Manusia Terbaik di Indonesia adalah Seorang Penjahat" (The best Indonesian is a criminal), and a picture of young actor Fauzi Baadila without his shirt.
Rudi said that the withdrawal order meant that no film or VCD distributor would dare promote or distribute the film.
"That means the only chance to see the film will be in January, when the film is released. That is, if it passes the censors at all," he said, adding that the censorship process would start after Christmas and that he was really nervous.
The whole thing showed how the state was reluctant to let the people decide for themselves, he said.
"It's like parents who always think of their children as kids. Why doesn't the LSF just deal with the ratings, instead of cutting the films, and then leave it up to the cinemas and TV stations to sort things out for themselves," said Rudi, who won the best director award at the 2004 Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) for teen hit Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? (What's Up With Cinta?).
Rudi's case once again places the state censorship board in the spotlight, worsening its already notorious reputation as being ultraconservative while at the same time capricious.
Dating back to Dutch East Indies days, the LSF now has 45 members comprising representatives from nine ministries, religious organizations, the military, the police and the National Intelligence Agency. Every film shown on TV and played in a cinema must pass the board's scrutiny.
The LSF frequently cuts scenes containing even a peck on the lips. But there are no clear standards, and some films containing kissing scenes, such as Ada Apa, pass uncut.
Some of its decisions are truly surprising. For example, the 2003 movie Arisan! (Gathering) has a gay kissing scene, while this year's Detik Terakhir (Last Second) even made through with a masturbation scene and a lesbian sex scene in the bathroom.
Another thing about the LSF, it always backs down whenever there is a protest from religious groups, government bureaucrats or people in powerful positions.
Last year, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and Muslim TV preacher Abdullah Gymnastiar, or Aa Gym as he is familiarly known, blasted the LSF for passing the film Buruan Cium Gue (Kiss Me Quick), which they condemned as likely to corrupt the youth with "carnal desires". The film's producer then withdrew the film.
This year, the LSF withdrew the action movie Bad Wolves as the police objected to its portrayal of corrupt officers, which they said would tarnish the image of the force, despite the fact that it is at an all time low.
More recently, three documentary films about Timor Leste were not allowed to be screened at the Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest).
The films -- Timor Loro Sae, Tales for Crocodiles, and Passabe -- were said to be likely to "open up old wounds and create social unrest."
"They're one sided, portraying Indonesians as the bad guys. They would further damage our already poor image," said LSF director Titie Said.
The fear of social unrest was Titie's excuse for a lot of the things that the LSF has done and been criticized for.
"You have to understand, not everyone is sharp and educated like you. We're still in the middle of a transitional phase as a nation. We are very diverse as a nation, we have to bridge that," she said.
"It's not undemocratic, and we're not against artistic freedom. But there is a bigger interest here, the interest of the nation."
While many think that censorship is redundant given the widespread availability of pirated DVDs and access to the Internet, Titie said "if we don't impose censorship, it would inflict more damage to society."
Titie admitted that there were no clear criteria or classifications for the censorship imposed, and that the relevant legislation, Law No. 8/1992, was a bit outdated.
However, she said the board still defended artistic freedom, for instance, in the case of Detik Terakhir, which tells the story of a girl from a broken home who turned to drugs and lesbianism.
"We passed the scenes because we don't want to disrupt the essence of the film, which consists of a good moral tale," Titie said.
John Badalu, JIFFest spokesman and director of Q! gay film festival, said that the LSF seemed to have double standards as it treated Western films differently on the grounds that kissing and sex scenes were part of Western culture.
"And there should be special rules for film festivals as the screening periods and the audiences are limited," he said.
Filmmakers have urged less censorship, and instead a tighter rating regime.
Noted filmmaker Garin Nugroho said that the people in the LSF were too prone to worry and fear, and that their decisions were often immature and even ridiculous.
"The more important thing is a good law enforcement and justice system, where people can file complaints after a film has been screened," he said.
The current censorship system, Garin said, could undermine democracy and justice. "We would become a worried and fearful nation, and never mature."

Labels: Film

Posted by hera at 12:25 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Redefining peer pressure with 'MTV'

Monday, December 19, 2005
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, New York

At a skateboard park somewhere in New York, three young men confronted a peer, pressuring him to do something.
"So, did you do the deed or not? I've done it, he's done it ... It's a part of being a man, man," said one of the boys.
The cornered boy claimed that he had done it that afternoon, but the others asked for proof. He then rolled up his sleeve, showing a plastered arm, which was welcomed by cheers and high-fives.
The advertisement was one of a number of public service announcements about HIV/AIDS produced by America's MTV. The clip closed with the tagline "Redefine peer pressure. Get tested."
While the content on the music television network may have become increasingly sexual during past years, the channel has also been praised for its groundbreaking programs to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS among youth.
In a recent interview with the channel, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan credited MTV for doing positive, preventive work with its target audience.
"Other channels came onboard a bit later, but you have made a real contribution in educating the young. And it is important because when you look at the statistics there's a high proportion of the young getting infected today, particularly between 14, 15 to 24, 25, and that is really the age group your station touches most," Annan told the MTV news correspondent John Norris.
There are an estimated 40 million people worldwide now living with some stage of HIV or AIDS.
Of all the new cases in the world, more than half of them are between 15 and 24 years old.
MTV first launched its "Staying Alive" campaign in 1998 that seeks to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS by empowering youth to protect themselves and fight the discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.
Partnering with several well-known sexual health organizations as well as other media, the Staying Alive campaign included long-format programming, such as documentaries, concert events, news specials, and discussion programs, public service announcements, sexual behavior polls, a website in 10 languages (www.staying-alive.org), and off-air marketing and grassroots promotion.
There is also MTV's "think:Sexual Health", the Emmy-Award winning campaign that encourages young people to make informed choices about the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy.
According to research conducted by the U.S-based Kaiser Foundation for family health in 2002 and 2003, more than two out of three of the campaign viewers are now more likely to use condoms, nearly half of the viewers have talked to their partners about having safe sex, and almost one in four have been tested for HIV or other STDs.
MTV vice president for strategic partnerships and public affairs, Ian V. Rowe, said more than one million people had called the toll-free hotline (1-888-BE-SAFE-1) and there had been a 30 percent increase in HIV testing. Just less than two thirds of people surveyed said they had personally learned something new from the campaign, Rowe said.
"We have reached a one billion audience through the network, and hope for more."
MTV plays in more than 412 million households in 164 territories in the Asia Pacific region, Europe, Latin America, North America and Russia.
For more information on MTV AIDS campaigns, programs and booklets, visit www.think.mtv.com.

Labels: health, HIV/AIDS

Posted by hera at 12:37 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Finding an AIDS vaccine 'a marathon, not a sprint'

Monday, December 19, 2005
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, New York

In the history of infection, the only way to control a viral epidemic has been through the creation of a vaccine.
The same thing is true for HIV/AIDS -- a vaccine is seen as the best long-term solution to end the epidemic. This is particularly true because the current treatment systems, although they have advanced over the years, still remain unable to cure the disease and are financially unsustainable.
Yet, 24 years after the first HIV diagnosis -- the worst viral epidemic since the 14th century -- there has been only one vaccine type that has been fully tested to see if it works.
HIV/AIDS, meanwhile, continues to infect five million people a year, or 14,000 people daily, and the virus claims around three million lives annually.
Top AIDS scientist Seth Berkley, of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, said researchers faced huge challenges in creating a AIDS vaccine -- scientific ones mainly, but also economic and political obstacles.
Scientifically, Berkley said, the virus' genetic variabilities made it extraordinary difficult to deal with its separate strains.
"We know that on average people get infected, they have the virus circulated in their blood, and then that virus is held down until about a decade later until they get sick. So, we know that most people can control the virus, and the challenge is how to make that type of control more robust," he said at a workshop recently in New York.
With other vaccines, such as measles or polio, the alive, attenuated vaccine is given to people to give them a mild infection that does not make them sick but instead protects them.
"Nobody wanted to give weakened HIV to people. But we gave weakened HIV to monkeys and they actually were protected. Why does it work, what's the mechanism, and can we get the mechanism by some other means? The answer today is we don't know," Berkley said.
According to Berkley, there are more than 30 candidate vaccines in the pipeline and there is a lot of important science going on across the world. Vaccine trials are not only being conducted with animals but also with a small number of healthy human volunteers.
"If there are no side-effects, we'll move to a larger number of volunteers, including some people at high risk. But we will have to wait two to three years to see the reaction," he said.
Aside from the scientific challenges, there was also the market's failure to produce a vaccine, Berkley said.
While vaccines have extremely high social value, they have low economic value, which results in few parties being interested in investing in them.
"If you think of the economic value of creating new drugs, pharmaceuticals have a huge market and (drug companies) make a lot of money on AIDS as people have to take the drug every day of their lives.
"But with vaccine, you only give it once or a few times. And you can't charge a huge amount of money because otherwise people won't take it. We know that for HIV, the largest place that needs vaccines is in developing countries. So it ends up in a very small market," Berkley said.
AIDS is still a controversial disease and questions are frequently raised about should be vaccinated. There are ethical issues associated with vaccinating teenagers and adolescents let alone some elements of the high-risk population, sex workers and injecting drugs users.
"With all the combinations, the company says, 'I'd better stay away from this'," Berkley said.
Vaccines like the one for hepatitis B, used to be expensive but with increased production and better science they have dropped more than 100-fold in price. However, the hepatitis B vaccine has only been offered in developing countries during the past 11 years/it took 11 years to give the vaccine to developing countries.
Similarly AIDS drugs used to be very expensive but are now tracking down in price. However, they are still out of reach of some of the people who need them most.
Global access to these drugs had to be assured, Berkley said. Production must be dramatically stepped up, and systems needed to be created to reach sex workers and drug users, along with a regulatory framework that spans nearly 200 countries.
"Can you get developed countries to accept the fact that we would make the vaccine available at (an affordable) price in developing world? Say, it is OK to charge US$50 in the U.S., but 50 cents in developing world?"
Berkley said political support and leadership was needed to develop a vaccine, in what needed to be a global effort.
"The vaccine would be a small component in global health spending, only less than 1 percent, and in developing countries even smaller.
"We need to build a comprehensive agenda all the way, on all levels, with all the support. It takes long time financing. It's a marathon, not a sprint."

Labels: health, HIV/AIDS

Posted by hera at 12:34 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Rich nations leaving the poor to die of AIDS

Monday, December 19, 2005

In November, The Jakarta Post's Hera Diani joined 21 journalists from 17 countries at a one-week HIV/AIDS reporting workshop in New York, under the auspices of the Reuters Foundation. Below are reports from the workshop, which featured a number of high-caliber speakers, including top HIV/AIDS vaccine scientist Dr. Seth Berkley and economist Jeffrey Sachs, HIV/AIDS activists and health journalists, as well as MTV US producers who presented an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign directed at young people.

When he talked about his first professional encounter into AIDS issues in the mid-1990s in Africa, economist Jeffrey Sachs had a look of shock and bewilderment on his face.
"One of the things that I couldn't understand, truly, was how it seemed the disease had been de-medicalized, outside of the rail of medicine and public health," he addressed the workshop.
There was almost no spending for sick people, he said, and people were dying without any access to public health care whatsoever.
"What amazed me is that a lot of speeches have been given about AIDS, from the UN, World Bank and so on. I thought someone was doing something about it other than just giving speeches. And I found that wasn't the case," Sachs said.
The middle class was hardest hit at that time; doctors, nurses and farmers were lost to the disease and millions of children were orphaned.
"There was also the paradox of no spending at all to do something about it," he said.
Sachs and his team calculated the cost of health access for poor people and came up with the figure of US$3, which was being given for each infected individual per year in Africa in 1999.
The demand for more funding sparked anger from rich countries, which said it was not cost-effective.
"As if leaving 30 million people to die is cost-effective. The whole thing was a scandal. And it remains a scandal from top to bottom. Because rich people leave people to die on the planet," Sachs said.
Next year will mark 25 years since HIV was first diagnosed, and the epidemic continues to infect five million people a year, claiming three million lives annually. There are an estimated 40 million people worldwide now living with some stage of HIV or AIDS.
Sachs said that AIDS is part of a much general health crisis, which is part of a more general poverty crisis.
There is no effective health system in poor countries. The disease does more damage sooner because widespread hunger and undernutrition makes the body more susceptible to infection.
Some countries do not make the maximum effort with their meager budgets to provide an effective health system, but for most poor countries, the financial constraints are huge.
The health sector is deeply underfinanced and understaffed, with often one doctor for every 25,000 to 30,000 people, and one nurse for a ward of 70 to 100 patients.
According to Sachs, the cost of rich countries helping poor countries improve their health sector is about $25 billion per year. The figure, calculated in 2000/2001, is one tenth of 1 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP) of the rich world.
"That means if the rich world gave 10 cents out of every $100 of the GNP, that would translate not just into AIDS control, but malaria control, TB control, clinics, doctors, community health workers ... and we would save about eight million people per year from dying early of disease," Sachs said.
"Only 1/10 of 1 percent of the rich world's income."
Seems like a pathetically small amount of money, he said, but it is very, very hard politically because the rich countries are very strongly girded against helping the poor countries.
Many countries have not even carried out their promise to spend 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on AIDS, which means 70 cents of every $100 of GDP.
"There is strong resistance, particularly from the United States, and also from some other parts of the world. Europe is better, most tend to honor the obligation of 0.7 percent. The U.S. gives the smallest share of their national income to aid of any rich country. Just 0.16 percent of the GNP, while we spent 0.7 percent of the GNP on the war in Iraq," Sachs said.
With bird flu sparking a global bid to prevent a human pandemic, concerns have been raised over double standards in handling AIDS and avian influenza.
American Laurie Garrett, a leading medical journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner, said that while both avian flu and HIV/AIDS were pandemics, they were not treated in the same way.
"Suddenly Bush said it takes $7 billion for an avian flu pandemic, with half of that for pharmaceuticals and incentives (for the industry). There has never been such a big amount of money given for HIV/AIDS. Whereas we deal with a chronic disease phenomena, a contagious and ever-expanding disease. We've never been in a state of emergency for four decades," she said.
Top HIV/AIDS vaccine scientist Seth Berkley said that for every penny spent on avian flu, 10 times more than that should have been spent.
"It's too late, you should have done that 10 years ago. But the fact is we're going to buy Tamiflu for the United States and not worry about the rest of the world..
"While if the flu goes crazy in Africa, for instance, chances are the rest of the world is going to have it even if you do not care about Africa," he said.
Berkley pointed to the period right after Sept. 11 when there was an anthrax attack in the U.S., with four or five people infected. The U.S. government then stood up and said there should be compulsory licensing for every drug.
"Here was South Africa, sued by a different manufacturer because they said they wanted to provide antiretrovirals (ARV) to tens of thousands of people dying of AIDS. That's the kind of stuff that drives me crazy. That double standard is really a problem," Berkley said.

Labels: health, HIV/AIDS

Posted by hera at 12:30 AM | Permalinks | Comments

RI under threat of 'lost generation'

Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Her name, Sasih, in Sundanese means 'month'. Over the past 14 years, Sasih, 33, has given birth to five children -- two boys and three girls -- with the youngest being barely two years old.
Along with husband Kadmira, a bajaj driver, the family of seven occupies a two-meter by two-meter rented room in a slum corner of Pejompongan, Central Jakarta.
Sasih said that having five children was a headache, financially and emotionally. Kadmira only earns Rp 30,000 daily, while she gets at most Rp 40,000 from selling steamed corn at a nearby low-income apartment complex.
Most of her pregnancies were unplanned, she said, and she had not used contraception.
"I took pills but they made me nauseous and dizzy. I tried injected contraceptive, but I bled the whole month. So, I stopped both," she told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Jamu herbal drinks were ineffective, while Sasih did not dare to try an intra-uterine device (IUD), despite a doctor's recommendation that this was the most effective, long-term contraceptive.
"I think I'm going to try an implant. But it costs Rp 75,000," she said.
As the world's fourth most populous nation, Indonesia has long struggled to reduce its birth rate. Back in the period of the Soeharto regime, family planning was forced by the government, with the slogan "two children are enough".
It was later criticized, however, for not respecting women's reproductive rights.
The total fertility rate indeed declined from 5.6 in the 1970s to 3.02 in 1991 and 2.6 in 2003.
Yet, couples like Sasih and Kadmira, who live in poverty, continue to have more than three children.
It raises concern over the increase in the 36.1 million people currently living in poverty, which may result in a lost generation.
The head of the National Family Planning Coordination Board (BKKBN), Sumarjati Arjoso, said contraceptive users among poor families only numbered 52.4 percent, while among the non-poor population the rate was 62.4 percent. The unwanted pregnancy rate, meanwhile, was 17 percent.
"It's not in line with the program of making pregnancy safer," Sumarjati said, pointing to the alarming mortality rate of 307 deaths per 100,000 births, which was the highest in Southeast Asia.
She said the problems of family planning were rooted in a combination of lack of education and information, as well as geography and even corruption.
"Over 90 percent of people understand the concept of family planning and contraception, but (the understanding is) still superficial," she told reporters on Monday on the sidelines of a national meeting on family planning.
Most poor families prefer pills and injections, even though the longevity of these contraceptives was short -- unlike IUDs that can be used for up to 10 years -- and this factor increased the risk of unwanted pregnancy.
Implants are effective within three years, but are quite expensive. And male contraceptives seem to be out of the question in this strongly patriarchal society.
The quality of services have yet to be standardized, Sumarjati said, with infrastructure in many regions, particularly in rural areas, not available or inadequate.
Nor are many health offices informed that civil servants' health insurance (ASKES) also includes contraceptives. Worse still, contraceptives are supposed to be free, but many health workers charge for them, as confirmed by Sasih, who had to pay Rp 15,000 for injected contraceptive while pills cost Rp 5,000 per strip.
"Contraceptives are not the same as medicines for illness. When people get sick, they will pay to be cured. But when you have to pay to get contraceptives, people will back out," Sumarjati said.

Labels: social affairs

Posted by hera at 12:42 AM | Permalinks | Comments