Muslim Students In Aceh Demand Removal Of Health Minister

Banda Aceh, Dec 4 (Antara) - Tens of members of the National Front of Indonesian Muslim Students (KAMMI) in Aceh staged a rally urging President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to remove Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi from her post for attempting to implement a controversial condom campaign. "We reject National Condom Week because the policy is useless and can only harm the values of the younger generation," KAMMI Aceh`s chairman, Faisal Qasim, said here on Wednesday. He noted that the minister had repeatedly announced controversial policies and, therefore, her appointment should be reconsidered. "We also urge the health ministry not to implement controversial policies that seem to originate from foreign values," he added. He pointed out that the ministry needed to ban prostitution and sex outside of marriage, instead of distributing condoms. National Condom Week was earlier scheduled to be observed from December 1 to 7. The campaign, which was aborted on Wednesday, was being organized by the Health Affairs Ministry and implemented by the National AIDS Commission (NAC) in cooperation with a leading condom manufacturer. Earlier, Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi had said that promoting the use of condoms was not wrong. "Distributing cigarettes is more dangerous than launching a campaign to distribute condoms," the minister pointed out. The Indonesian Ulema Council`s (MUI) chairman, K.H. Amidhan, had also said that his party disagreed with the implementation of National Condom Week. "The MUI does not agree with the implementation of National Condom Week because it only suits the interests of the condom manufacturers and does not promote the use of contraceptives," Amidhan noted on Monday. He argued that promoting condoms could be misinterpreted by teenagers as permission to engage in casual sexual activities. Amidhan also noted that sex education for the public, including teenagers, is more important than promoting condom use.