Indonesian Muslims protest condom campaign

JAKARTA (AFP) — While Indonesian campaigners marked World AIDS Day by promoting the use of condoms, hundreds of Muslims rallied against free distribution of the contraceptive, a report said Saturday.

Indonesia -- which the UN says has the fastest growing HIV epidemic in Asia -- used the day to launch its first national campaign to promote using condoms, which currently account for less than one percent of contraception use.

But in the capital Jakarta, about 100 people from the group, Anti-Pornography, staged a rally against condom distribution, local radio ElShinta reported.

"The use of condoms is another way to promote free sex," protesters from Committee Against Pornography told ElShinta.

They urged the government to support a controversial anti-pornography bill to help prevent spread of the disease.

In Indonesia's second largest city of Surabaya, about 300 Muslim students handed out stickers and brochures, reading "No Free Sex, No Drugs, Healthy living with Islamic law" to pedestrians and motorists.

Rallies in commemoration of World AIDS Day were also held in several big cities across the archipelago.

Latest official figures showed that more than 16,200 Indonesians have been infected with the virus that causes AIDS since 1987.