MUI, Huh?

It is a good thing that this is a blog, and it is my blog, because I can hold pretty much any opinion that I want and then blog it in any way, shape or form that takes my fancy.

I have said this before, I will say it again, but I say it now...the MUI is a waste of space. The MUI or the Indonesian Council of Ulemas is a group of crotchety old men with nothing better to do than sit around handing out fatwas left, right, and center however it sees fit. Yes, I appreciate there are some out there that will argue that they are merely responding to requests that concerned Indonesian citizens pose on issues of "what is" and "what is not" permitted in Islam.

However, I would argue that when they are discussing medical and scientific matters that extend beyond the grasp of most mortals that they take the time to consult with experts in the field.

The MUI in its infinite wisdom has decided that a meningococcal vaccine produced by GlaxoSmithKline is haram or forbidden because it uses an enzyme in the production process that is derived from the humble pig. I appreciate that pigs are najis or ritually impure in Islam, but this is the only way that the vaccine can be produced.

There are claims that the vaccine can be produced without the pig enzyme. However, these claims have not been subject to medical review and the companies making them have not put forward the scientific evidence for scrutiny.

The vaccine production process involves the use of the pig enzyme. Nevertheless, the end product is cleaned in such a way that no traces of the enzyme remains. To all intents and purposes it is clean.

What is interesting is that the former Health Minister, Siti Fadillah Supari, says the MUI has issued a fatwa which is confusing. This is in fact code for, "the MUI does not know what it is talking about". It must be remembered that Supari, during her term as Health Minister, never missed an opportunity to stick it to western nations and their health practices. So, it seems unlikely she would side with GSK over the MUI unless the MUI were so wrong that the fatwa was not worth the paper it was written on.

What is truly funny, though, is that the GSK vaccine is used in both Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

Why is this a big deal? Well, Saudi Arabia requires all prospective Haj pilgrims to be vaccinated against meningococcal bacteria and the possibility of contracting meningitis. The conspiracy theorists might hint that there is a need to follow the money trail on this one. The Indonesian Government had already forked out some IDR 20 billion for the GSK vaccine and will now have to fork out another IDR 50+ billion to secure enough supply of the MUI approved Novartis vaccine. Just as well I am not a conspiracy buff, eh?

Ho hum...

Swine Flu, Tourists, Face Masks, and Indonesia

The Minister of Health (and Conspiracy Theories and Other Crazy Ideas) has decided that all tourists from swine flu affected countries must where face masks for the first three days after their arrival in Indonesia. It seems that the fact that 50% of the eight cases of swine flu or the A(H1N1) virus confirmed in Indonesia has tipped the scales in favour of all foreigners from all swine flu affected countries being required to don the face masks. This is presumably even the case if the incoming tourist successfully negotiates the thermal scanner (photo).

According to the Minister, this is a precautionary measure in order to prevent human-to-human transmission. Yep, I can see it now, the tourists from swine flu affected countries in the late night entertainment areas of Legian and Kuta painting the town red in their designer face masks. The question though is really one of enforcement. And, as the Minister of Conspiracy Theories points out, it is going to be a little hard to enforce the requirement for people wanting to go swimming, or perhaps eating, or drinking, or myriad of other pursuits that would undoubtedly be hampered by the mask.

The government recognizes that if it were to jump up and down in order to show that it was serious about this, then there could be a spanner thrown into the works of the slow but sure recovery of the tourism industry in places like Bali. Hence, there is no penalty if people choose not to wear the mask after they are given it at the airport.

This begs the question, "Why bother?"

This is especially so when the new "policy" is still unfunded and the Department of Health is still trying to ascertain where the funds are coming from to buy the masks that are going to be handed out for free. The true Indonesian entrepreneurial spirit would have been to tag an extra USD 5 on each visa on arrival to cover the cost of the mask. Let's face it, it is still cheaper to pay the fiver than it is to stand on principle and turn around and board the next flight back to wherever it is that you came from.

This brilliant policy initiative came out of a meeting chaired by the Coordinating Minister of His Own Family's Welfare (oops Peoples' Welfare), Aburizal Bakrie, who said the funds would be made available for the purchase of the masks.

This also begs a question, "Aren't there more important matters that require immediate funding?" It also possibly begs a second question, "When does the Minister think that his family companies and the government will get around to finalizing the Lapindo matter, particularly the outstanding payments to those affected by that disaster?"

Funnily enough, the Health Minister has indicated that she is particularly concerned by the huge numbers of Australian tourists that invade Bali annually. I noted in my previous post on swine flu that it was a perfect scenario for the doomsdayers, conspiracy theorists, and Commission I of the DPR to ratchet up the idea that swine flu was another attempt by foreigners to covertly usurp Indonesian sovereignty through the spread of disease.

This really is a case for the "Why Bother?" files. It is such a waste of money, particularly when the money can be better spent elsewhere.

Avian Influenza or H5N1

Fortunately, this nasty little virus has not become the pandemic that everyone supposedly in the know thought that it might! However, this is not the end of the story but merely the beginning as the potential remains and questions remain as to whether Indonesia and others have been accurately reporting avian influenza deaths. Instead of calling this thing its scientific name or the somewhat pompous avian influenza, I am just going to call it bird flu!

History has seen an earlier form of bird flu that was either called chicken flu or the Spanish Flu. The Spanish Flu was thought to have originated in the battlefields of the First World War and migrated from chickens to a mutant strain into humans. The number crunchers are whacking out the scary statistics that if this thing was to take off then it could conceivably kill up to 3 billion people. Now, there is one way to ensure population control and turn back the effects of global warming!

This brings us to Indonesia's claim of some kind of intellectual property rights over the bird flu virus and that if anyone wants samples of the virus then they must pay by the Indonesian Health Minister. This seems to say to her fellow citizens that we do not care whether you live or die but we are going to ensure that we make a few dollars at your expense.

She then trots out the argument of the big bad west and the fact that they are trying to rape and pillage Indonesia's intellectual property and profit from it! If Indonesia has the ability to develop medicines and drugs to treat bird flu then it should do it and profit from it if it can. However, the reality would seem to suggest that Indonesia does not think that it can do this and is therefore now seeking to sell samples.

It is at this point the story takes a truly bizarre and perhaps disturbing turn. The Health Minister publishes a book and by a number of accounts Health Department funds were thrown at the task. The truly bizarre and disturbing part is not so much the claim that WHO and large pharmaceutical companies are conspiring to defraud developing countries of their rights but the idea that the west is desperately seeking samples of Indonesian bird flu in order to develop a biological weapon that might be used against Indonesia in the future...

Stupid, stupid, stupid conspiracy theory with absolutely no grounds based in even the slightest realities of current geo-political relationships! These kind of xenophobic conspiracy theories do nothing but stoke the fires of hatred. These are fires of hatred that Indonesians, not just foreigners, should fear and loathe. These things also only serve to perpetuate the hatred and stereotypes that some people hold of others.

The fact that the Indonesian government has remained relatively silent on this book is of some concern as the question that arises is, "is this silence in fact an endorsement of the views of the Health Minister?" To be fair the book was withdrawn temporarily and many believed much of the xenophobic vitriol and the idea that bird flu is the work of God would be removed (redacted) from this tome. The idea that Allah gave Indonesia the deadliest strain of bird flu to date in order that Indonesia could make money off of it is as ludicrous as it is offensive to those that have already died from infection with the virus. However, it allegedly reappeared pretty much in tact and with some words of encouragement from the President.

I must be honest and admit that I have not bought the book and do not intend to (if someone wants to give me copy then they can). I have been following this primarily in the news and my comments here are interpretations of what I have read. I, therefore, encourage you to read them in that context.

As as side note perhaps it is worth noting that conspiracy theories abound in the supposed dark world of pharmaceutical development where men and women in suits sit in high-rise office buildings developing sinister plans to keep the world sick in order to maximize profits.

Similar conspiracy theory type arguments have been trotted out with regard to HIV/AIDS. The idea that pharmaceuticals stand to make more money out of treatment than they ever would out of cure. Simply, the conspiracy theory goes that allowing people to remain sick is more profitable in the long term than being able to cure them. It is my belief that the Indonesian Health Minister has done nothing than adopt this view and change the virus to H5N1.

Viral Marketing

It is being reported that Indonesia and the US are getting close to a deal on sharing samples of the bird flu virus. This is a good thing presumably because it will allow for vaccines and treatments to be developed and the medicines and vaccines developed will be provided cheaply to developing nations.

This development is also interesting because it was only recently that the Indonesian Health Minister, Siti Fadilah Supari, claimed that the US was conspiring with the World Health Organization to force developing nations into buying expensive medicines, drugs, and vaccines. Her book, Saatnya Dunia Berubah, Tangan Tuhan di Balik Flu Burung (Time for World Change, The Hand of God Behind Bird Flu), ruffled a few feathers (pun intended)!

The book has been hotly debated in various blogs because not only were the US and WHO conspiring, but the US was also using the bird flu virus to create biological weapons. One for the conspiracy theorists out there!

But with only two Indonesian provinces being free from bird flu, then it is likely that Indonesia stands to gain from this arrangement providing both sides keep their promises and commitments to the other.