IPOH, 22 Dec 2008: Gerakan Deputy President Datuk Chang Ko Youn today hit out at the suggestion by Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin yesterday that people with HIV must never be allowed to marry and should instead be quarantined for treatment.
Describing the idea as primitive, Chang said such an idea had been condemned internationally and was unacceptable in solving the HIV/AIDS problem.
“The carriers must be treated as human beings and not ostracised. It will only alienate them from society and push carriers to keep secret their problem,” he said in a statement.
“It will fuel the spread of the disease if things are wrapped up and carriers are not prepared to come out openly to seek treatment,” he added.
Chang, who is also Perak Gerakan chairperson, said the suggestion by Mohammad Nizar only showed the Perak Menteri Besar’s ignorance and failure to understand the issue.
He said it also showed that the government campaign on awareness had failed because political leaders were still ignorant, what more the general public.
Chang urged political leaders to study the matter carefully before making such unhelpful and divisive suggestions which he said could take society back to the Dark Ages. — Bernama
See also: Mandatory testing flawed
