HIV carriers in Malaysia should not be allowed to marry, says government official

Dec 22 2008

One of Malaysia's top politicians has apparently suggested that HIV carriers should not be allowed to marry in order to avoid having sick children.

The chief minister of northern Perak state, Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, has been quoted as saying that people who are very sick with such a disease should not be allowed to get married as any 'breeding' will pass the virus on to the embryo which is 'unfair' because the disease is then passed on to the child.

His comments follow an official statement from the Department of Islamic Development, which says that Muslims who test positive for HIV, should still be allowed to marry.

According to Nizar's office the minister was referring to both Muslims and non-Muslims - Nizar is member of the opposition Islamist party Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS).

The debate on the right of HIV/AIDS carriers, especially Muslims, to marry was fuelled last week when Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak apparently said all Muslim couples in Malaysia must undergo HIV screening before getting married.

The controversy comes at a time when many Malaysian Muslims are struggling to come to terms with concerns associated with a rise in hard-line Islam - last month Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Muslims are allowed practice yoga but without chanting, which reversed an outright ban that had caused a furore - the Malaysian government has also threatened to shut down a Catholic newspaper for using the world "Allah," saying it could inflame the country's Muslim population.

While ethnic Malay Muslims are politically dominant in the country accounting for around 60% of the population, Malaysia's 26 million populace also has considerable numbers of ethnic Indian and Chinese minorities include Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians.

In Malaysia while new HIV infections dropped to 3,452 in 2008, compared to 6,756 in 2003, infections among women through normal sexual intercourse rose from 5.02 percent of total cases in 1997 to 16.3 percent last year.

Najib Razak says seen from society's point of view as well from the view of individuals concerned, it is in everyone's interest to know whether prospective husbands are free from HIV.