This past July, lawmakers in Indonesia’s Papua province proposed a bill allowing the government to use microchip implants to track people with HIV. A Department of Health computer would then monitor their every action and location, presumably to log their sexual activity and preempt transmission. The idea follows a report cosponsored by the U.S. government, which found that the province—the most isolated and poorest in the nation—has an infection rate of 2.4 percent, almost 15 times the national average. John Manansang, a parliament member who spearheaded the proposal, said, “Some of the infected people experience a change of behavior and can turn more aggressive and would not think twice of infecting others.... The use of chip implants is one way to [monitor them].” Microchipping and other tracking measures have long been proposed in many nations, including the U.S. “We are not animals who need to be tagged,” Robert Sihombing, founder and coordinator of the first Papuan HIV/AIDS support group, Jayapura Support Group (JSG), told POZ. To become law the bill must be approved by Papuan government officials and face a public consultation.
