Nowhere to come but back

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I've been very lazy for several months. As I said in my first post, I am not much of a diarist, and I was a bit worried that I could keep it up. I took a holiday in England over the Lebaran holiday, and tried to forget all about Indonesia and AIDS for a couple of weeks; seems I did too good a job of that! Anyway, due to overwhelming request (at least three!), I'll have another go. Probably inauspicious to start again at the New Year; it'll seem like a New Year's resolution, and of course they are never kept for long.

On my way back from London, I stopped off in Singapore for the day to get a new visa. After a number of false starts, and with support from the National AIDS Commission (thanks Ibu Naf and Mbak Ria!), I finally got approval for a 12-month multiple-entry social-cultural visa from Immigration in Jakarta. As normal, the visa had to be issued outside Indonesia, so I chose Singapore. I arrived early in the morning, was met by my old boss from the 70's, George King (who now lives on Sentosa) at the airport and went straight to the Embassy, filled in the form, and hoped. I then left with George to spend the day with him and his wife, Iis. Amazingly, the visa was ready for collection at 2 p.m., so we then had some tea, and back to the airport for the evening flight to Jakarta.

It's always difficult to get clear information on these things, but the visa appeared to be valid for multiple entries up to one year from the first entry. with a maximum of 60 days stay on each visit. This seems to work; I left 59 days later for Dili (more on that later), and had no difficulty (apart form an hour's queuing at Denpasar) entering Indonesia again.

Not sure if the 60 days can be extended without leaving the country, although if necessary I could do another quick flit to Singapore (or a longer one: the King's always do me proud when I visit!). But in January I'm planning to attend the 12th Bangkok HIV Symposium organised by HIVNAT, so that means I'll be OK 'til March. Just hope we don't get stranded in Bangkok; seems to be brewing up again!

OK, I'll report on some of my HIV-related adventures since September later. In the meantime, may I wish my readers (all three of them?) a Peaceful, if doubtfully Prosperous, New Year!

Babé

Avoid Singapore

Yet another case of a person living with HIV (PLHIV) from Indonesia deported from Singapore! Although for some reason, Singapore doesn't appear on lists of PLHIV-unfriendly states (like the US and Saudi Arabia), in fact it is some ways worse than these.

Let's be clear: if a non-Singaporean citizen is diagnosed HIV positive in Singapore, this must be reported, and the person concerned will be swiftly deported. And if he or she tries to enter Singapore ever again, even as a tourist, he or she will be put on the next plane out. And don't take chances with the Singapore Immigration database; its foolproof.

Of course, this can be a real bind. Singapore is a regional hub, and many multinationals have their regional offices there. I know of at least two cases of up-and-coming Indonesians whose career has been cut short because they can't even visit the regional office, let alone work there.

Moral: if you are a non-citizen, don't even think of having an HIV test in Singapore. And if you are HIV positive (or suspect you may be), forget the idea of going to Singapore for the high-class hospital treatment offered. Better off going to Bangkok.

Babé