The government has moved to debunk rumours that a recent outbreak of avian flu was deliberately triggered.
January 29, 2013
With alarm spreading over a rumour that biological weaponry caused a recent avian flu attack, Indonesian officials moved this month to set the record straight.
Painstaking investigations into the outbreak have yielded no evidence to support such speculation,National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief, Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman told reporters.
"Until now, there is no indication that the virus is leading to bioterrorism," Marciano said on January 10th. "However, we have to stay alert. In the future, it is possible that biological attacks will be used in wars. But I do not think Indonesia has gone that far."
Co-ordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said a special government team was set up to look into the allegations.
"The team consists of many members of intelligence agencies and people from public health offices,” he said, adding that "we have not received any reports that have been validated". False reports spur public anxiety
Terrorism expert Wawan Purwanto told Khabar Southeast Asia the rumours were stirring up fears among Indonesians.
"They (whoever spreads the news) will cause society to panic," he told Khabar. "We recommend that the Ministry of Health and experts promptly inform the public" that there is no cause for alarm.
At the same time, he said, the possibility of such threats should not be dismissed. "If a person is deliberately injected, then it means this is an act of terror. We must be alert and stay vigilant."
Indonesia has been the site of repeated avian flu outbreaks. To date, at least 11 provinces and 69 counties – including in Java, Sumatra, Bali and Sulawesi -- have been affected.
Experts are still unsure about how the virus is entering the country. Chairul Anwar Nidom, Chief of the Avian Research Centre at Airlangga University, told Khabar that in 2003, officials discovered a strain that is 98.2% similar to the one found in China. The most recent version is 99.2% similar to the Chinese strain.
In the past, the H5N1 avian flu virus reportedly only attacked chickens. However, over the past three months, the virus has been killing thousands of ducks, contributing to the alarm.
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Directorate General of Livestock and Animal Health, more than 513,700 ducks died.
The virus has also been killing ducks in a number of other countries, including China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Bangladesh. In Indonesia, the first reported attack came in Brebes, a small district in Central Java last October.
Chairul agrees there is no basis for believing that someone is trying to mount a biological attack via bird migration, as some have suggested. The rumours are contradicted by science, he noted.
"The migratory birds are not sensitive enough to catch this virus," Chairul said. "Moreover, the virus is spreading rapidly in ducks and without mutation."
