Did you donate Aid to Indonesian Tsunami Victims?

This was an Editorial in The Jakarta Post this week. Finally someone speaks out against crass stupidity or were the people concerned merely waiting for the "facilitation fees" to get larger?

Hundreds of containers containing goods meant for Aceh tsunami survivors have been languishing in Indonesian ports for at least nine months. While the aid effort in Aceh has been generally applauded, and rightfully so, this is the most dramatic failure in the operation to bring relief to the province since the catastrophic earthquake and waves brought so much devastation in December, 2004.

How could such desperately needed aid be tied up for so long? The customs office's explanation that it needed time to make sure the containers were not carrying smuggled goods is completely unacceptable. Does the customs service place paperwork over the lives of tsunami survivors? The argument that the goods did not have "proper documentation" does not ring true.
A disaster of the apocalyptic proportions of the Aceh tsunami, in which over 100,000 people died, does not deserve such a response. How long does it take to determine whether a container is filled with smuggled goods or legitimate aid? How many agencies is it necessary to go through to get goods out of the ports -- the Ministry of Social Services, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Trade, Customs and Excise Office, National Disaster Management Coordination Body -- in such an emergency situation? Is it not possible to expedite clearance to get the aid to the people who need it?

The local newspapers here in Jakarta are at a loss for answers as to what could have caused this delay. It is difficult to imagine customs officials were not aware of the need to get aid to tsunami survivors as quickly as possible, given the blanket media coverage of the suffering in the province. The 117 containers left languishing in a port in Jakarta are said to contain blankets, medicines and food, items in great demand in the aftermath of the disaster.
In Belawan Port in Medan, another 232 containers were left in limbo, along with 58 vehicles, among them ambulances.

Officials may be able to find all sorts of excuses for the delay, but that does not change the absurdity of the episode. It amounts to an audacious robbery of tsunami survivors, a scandal whose seriousness cannot be overstated. The government has, in effect, slapped donors in the face by allowing their aid to rot in the ports. The generosity of donors from around the world should never be forgotten, as they rushed to help the country in a time of need. Foreign governments, local and foreign companies, NGOs and individual donors all gave freely to ease the suffering we all saw on our television screens and in the newspapers.

There could be no more inappropriate way in which to treat donors who acted promptly out of a deep sense of shared humanity. Our failure to get the aid immediately to the survivors is like saying, "Better to let the food rot than to bring it to the hungry, to prolong the suffering of the sick than to make use of the medicine, and to let the victims suffer from the cold than to bring them blankets." It might have been better simply to reject the aid, as India did, than to agree to receive it and then fail to deliver it to the intended recipients.

There is another troubling question: if all these donors acted so promptly to help Indonesian victims, why have Indonesian officials acted so slowly? Worse, there have been reports that some of this aid has been found being sold in Medan markets.

If corruption is part of this shameful episode -- there have been reports that Rp 65 million was required to get a container out of the port in Jakarta -- the government must take a close look at the officials involved. Otherwise, countries will think very seriously before sending aid to Indonesia in the future, simply because corruption takes such a heavy toll. The country's track record is already extremely shaky. Leakage is common in any assistance coming into the country, especially during the 30 years of the New Order regime. It has been well established that in the past up to 30 percent of all financial aid ended up in the pockets of government officials.

It is common courtesy to return the goodwill of the global community. In this case, that simply would have required making use of the assistance. Donors deserve respect, which would have meant assuring not a single item of aid went astray.

A lot has been done to assist the survivors in Aceh, but there is still much work that remains. The government should release all aid containers still in Indonesian ports immediately, because failing to use this assistance is an insult to humanity.

End of Editorial.

There is a feeling of outrage within the local community on this issue, almost everyone was greatly affected by the catastrphic losses in Sumatra. Normal Indonesians, who would normally shrug their shoulders at situations like this have reacted angrily and there seems to be a growing tide of condemnation against this type of government inefficiency.

The alternative is to place all of these containers on the nearest boat to Pakistan where I am sure there are many people in the North West of that country who could do with some blankets this winter.