Malaysian AIDS Body Against Plan to Force Pre-marriage HIV Tests

The Malaysian AIDS Council opposes a plan by the southern Johor state to carry out mandatory pre-marital HIV tests on Muslim couples. "We find that many practical issues in the implementation of the fatwa [religious decree] have not been thought through by the Johor Health Department and this will cause the plan to fail," council President Marina Mahathir told the Sun newspaper. The council fears the plan was not scientifically sound, lacked trained staff and could cause unnecessary distress for those with false positive results. According to Mahathir, one objection was that there seemed to be little concern about the window of time between infection and testing positive, which would defeat the purpose of the pre- marital tests.

Johor Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman said the decree will be implemented by November 13. "Initially there were some objections that the fatwa violated individual rights and that couples are denied their right to get married," Othman said. "After much explanation, these people who opposed us in the beginning understand the ruling and started to support it." Under the Johor state fatwa, couples would be tested in state hospitals, and the results would go to the religious authority. If medically fit, the couple would be issued a certificate and could then marry. If a test showed that a prospective bride or groom had HIV/AIDS, it would be up to them if they wanted to go on with their wedding, as they could not be prevented from doing so. "We have to take the measure because Johor has recorded the highest number of HIV infections with 8,000 cases last year," Abdul Ghani said.

Johor is the first among the 13 states in Malaysia to make such a ruling. Religious matters come under the jurisdiction of individual states. Another state, Negri Sembilan, said Wednesday it had decided to follow Johor's example. The News Straits Times newspaper cited a religious official who said that about 4,000 men and 93 women in the state had tested positive for HIV.

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