# 390
Today, there is a fascinating article in the Jakarta Post about how scientists studying the H5N1 virus on the island of Bali have been stymied by local politicians.
According to the reportage, the fears of damage to the local tourism trade amongst politicians is apparently greater than their fears of the virus, and so these civil servants have done what they could to prevent the release of a study of bird flu infection (or at least the antibodies for the virus) in cats, dogs, and pigs on that island.
Bali's bird flu researchers under political pressure
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
It seems that speaking the truth on avian influenza has not won the scientists investigating the lethal virus on Bali any friends.
Ngurah Mahardika -- a German-educated molecular virologist and team leader of the Udayana University Avian Influenza Identification and Detection Program (AI-IDP) -- learned the bitter truth when the island's political elite joined ranks in lambasting the results of the AI-IDP's research.
"Frankly speaking, I was shocked by the response. Yet, it has been quite an enlightening experience for me."
The government-funded AI-IDP has since late 2005 collected over 8,000 animal samples from various villages in Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara provinces.
It all started when the results of the research appeared in a number of national and local media publications.
<snip>
Instead of tackling the problem head on, a large number of politicians busily tried to discredit the results of the AI-IDP research. They questioned both the validity and integrity of the research. Moreover, they concluded the methods employed and the number of samples taken were way too small to represent the island's actual condition.
Another group of high-ranking government officials and councillors did not question the research. Yet, they passionately attacked the publication of its results in the media. Calling such action reckless and unwise, they claimed the publication would further hurt the tourism industry, the island's economic backbone.
Bali Governor I Dewa Made Berata even went so far as to instruct his subordinates to conduct a competing study to counter the AI-IDP one. He did so after questioning the research's validity and lamenting its future impact on tourism. He did not forget to state the island was still relatively safe from a bird flu epidemic.
The heat was on and the political pressure was strong for the AI-IDP team to apologize for its media recklessness and to retract its findings.
This is quite a long article, and I’ve only presented a small excerpt. It is well worth reading it in its entirety. It illustrates a problem we've seen before.
In far too many instances, the initial reaction of politicians and local officials has been to minimize, and in some cases, even cover up bird flu. Authorities in some countries have turned a blind eye to the problem, and by failing to act, have allowed the problem to spread.
Veteran flu watchers have developed a healthy cynicism when it comes to accepting denials by officials of reports of bird flu.
Far too often, they turn out to be premature.
