Alarm as Jakarta thumbs nose at West over bird flu

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Alarm as Jakarta thumbs nose at West over bird flu

Published: Monday, 8 September, 2008, 09:01 AM Doha Time

JAKARTA: With nearly half the world's human bird flu deaths, concern

is building over Indonesia's refusal to share virus samples and its

health minister's increasingly strident denunciations of global

" conspiracies " .

Indonesia stopped sharing the samples with the World Health

Organisation (WHO) in December 2006 on fears pharmaceutical companies

would use them to make vaccines that are too expensive for poor countries.

The initial move by Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari earned

international plaudits for taking on an unfair global system, but with

WHO negotiations at an impasse, Supari's increasing belligerence is

raising alarm.

The minister has broadened her critique of an " unfair, neocolonialist "

global health system, raising the possibility earlier this year the US

was using the virus to develop biological weapons in her book " It's

Time for the World to Change: Divine Hands Behind Avian Influenza. "

Supari told a rapturous crowd at a book discussion last week that rich

nations were creating " new viruses " and sending them to developing

nations in order create markets for drug companies to sell vaccines.

" Indonesia sends a virus to the WHO but it suddenly it ends up with

the US government. Then the US government turns the virus into dollars

and we don't know what kind of research, " Supari said.

" Then the virus is turned into vaccines (that are sent to) Indonesia

and Indonesia has to buy them and if they don't buy them, it turns and

turns again, and in the end developed countries make new viruses which

are then sent to developing countries, " she said.

" The conspiracy between superpower nations and global organisations

isn't a theory, isn't rhetoric, but it's something I've experienced

myself. "

Bird flu scientists abroad and in Indonesia have raised concerns that

while Supari seeks to reshape the global order, time is being wasted

in understanding a virus that could potentially kill millions if it

mutates into a form transmissible between humans.

Indonesia announced in August that 112 people have died from the

virus, out of more than 240 worldwide since late 2003. Only a handful

of samples and genetic sequences have been shared with the WHO and

researchers.

The health ministry also earlier this year stopped publicly announcing

bird flu deaths, only releasing information information weeks or

months after victims have died.

" I'm a bit suspicious what she's doing is more politics and not in

fact for the global health system, " said Ngurah Mahardika, a

virologist from Udayana University on Bali island.

" This will lessen the strength, the power of the preparedness of the

global system ... (withholding samples means) we don't have any

epidemiological and virological signal now of what the virus looks

like, " Mahardika said.

" This is really increasing our pandemic risk (because) we don't know

about any signals of a pandemic. "

While Supari has insisted Indonesia and other developing countries can

stand on their own in researching the virus, Indonesian scientists say

they too have been shut out from access to flu samples.

" The minister of health is keeping the virus in the laboratories but

they are giving no access to Indonesian scientists at the moment, "

said Amin Subandrio, the head of the national bird flu committee's

expert panel.

Subandrio, who has supported Supari in trying to extract a change in

WHO rules to allow developing nations to secure supply of and revenue

from vaccines taken from their virus strains, said withholding samples

was nonetheless risky.

He said Supari's claim of a Western-led global conspiracy was not

backed by evidence.

" I really cannot explain it 100%, but probably she received the wrong

information from the wrong person, " he said.

But while scientists and global health authorities express worry,

Supari continues to enjoy popularity at home.

Her book has entered into multiple print runs in Indonesian and

English and plans have reportedly been made for a film adaptation.

Mainstream academics have also rallied to her side.

" I believe she represents a kind of minister or politician who has a

very clear political standing, " political scientist Bima Arya Sugiarto

said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has distanced himself from Supari's

more controversial comments but has made no sign of moving her from

her post.

" In Indonesia we recognise that there are issues to be resolved in the

world health system but certainly we don't believe in conspiracy

theories, " presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said. - AFP

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