# 3868
While I’m sure she has her fans, outgoing Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari has waged an ongoing war with the WHO and the United States for several years over the sharing of bird flu samples.
She has also managed to shut down much of the flow of information regarding H5N1 out of that country for well over a year, and has made incredible (albeit domestically popular) claims of conspiracies by western governments regarding the virus.
So, the appointment of a new Health Minister, even one we know little about, is viewed by some in Flublogia with a few flecks of optimism.
Time will tell if things will really change. In the meantime. . .
Politics (derived from the Latin;`poly’ meaning many, and `tics’ meaning blood sucking parasites) being the same all over the world, it didn’t take long before the outgoing Health Minister Supari lobbed some serious accusations at her replacement.
This from the Jakarta Post.
New health minister denies virus-smuggling accusation
Erwida Maulia , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 10/22/2009 8:40 PM | National
New Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih denied Thursday accusations that she had smuggled samples of the bird flu virus abroad while serving at the ministry.
Endang told reporters after her inauguration ceremony that although she was involved in research into the virus, she had never taken any samples overseas or sold it to other countries.
"That's not true. I've never taken the virus overseas; I've never sold it. I only conducted research with my colleagues. There have been no exchanges whatsoever," the Harvard graduate said in response to accusations by her predecessor Siti Fadillah Supari.
Shortly after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced Endang’s inclusion in his new Cabinet on Wednesday night, Siti held a press conference at her residence during which she accused Endang of smuggling the virus and cited the incident as the reason why Endang had been dismissed her from her position at the Health Ministry's research and development agency.
Siti, however, corrected her statement on Thursday, saying she had merely learned that Endang had taken a virus sample abroad but had not sold it, and that she only rotated Endang to another unit.
