Discrimination or not??

This was featured in The Straits Times on 22 Dec 08

'Carriers shouldn't marry'

KUALA LUMPUR - HIV carriers should not be allowed to marry, in order to avoid having sick children, a top Malaysian politician was quoted on Monday as saying.

'Somebody who is very sick like that should not be allowed to get married,' Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, chief minister of northern Perak state was quoted as saying by New Straits Times newspaper.

'If there's any breeding, sorry for having to use that word, the embryo will also carry the same virus. So that is even more unfair because you are actually passing that disease on to the child.'

He had been asked to comment on a statement by an official of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia that Muslims who test positive for the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, would still be allowed to marry.

An aide to Mr Nizar, who is a member of the opposition Islamist party Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), said the minister was referring to both Muslims and non-Muslims.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted last week as saying all Muslim couples in peninsular Malaysia must undergo HIV screening before getting married.

The debate on the right of HIV/AIDS carriers, especially Muslims, to marry comes as mostly Muslim Malaysia is struggling to allay concerns of a rise in hardline Islam.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said last month Muslims are allowed to do yoga but without chanting, reversing an outright ban that had caused a flap in the country.

The government has also threatened to shut down a Catholic newspaper for using the world 'Allah', saying it could inflame the country's Muslim population.

Politically dominant ethnic Malay Muslims form about 60 percent of the population of roughly 26 million, while the ethnic Indian and Chinese minorities include Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians. -- REUTERS

Should this be considered an act of discrimination against HIV/AIDS carriers?
Is it a move that makes sense to protect the future generations born into such families?
or is it a statement that claims inability of HIV/AIDS carriers to be responsible when it comes to family planning?

after all, marriage is about a union of two individuals and does not in all cases lead to the couple having children. A couple comprising a HIV/AIDS carrier can still share the same food, can still kiss, hug and hold hands, can have sex (precautions can be taken but there are no guarantees of course so it depends on the couple) and spend the rest of their lives together in love, till death does them part...

Reminds me of the huge debate about Proposition 8 in California, USA regarding gay marriages...

What do YOU think?