It’s been a harrowing 10 days for everyone in Southeast and South Asia. But hopefully with the arrival of aid and relief teams into the disaster areas, the situation will slowly become manageable.
In a time like this, those of us on the outside (i.e. not directly affected) try to do what we can but I have been getting increasingly more frustrated and depressed by what is going on locally. There have been many reports from people who have been to aid centres in Kedah who have terrible things to say about the operation.
1) Someone I know has a friend with Mercy Malaysia who said that when they went to deliver supplies direct to Kedah, saw a lot of people standing around and drinking the box drinks (those which were very likely donated), as well as “eyeing” some of the stuff piling up in the centre.
2) Another friend spoke to a head of an organisation who delivered some donations last week to a centre, as well as 100 relief packages consisting of water, biscuits, towels, sarongs, pillows and blankets. When he got there, he was not allowed into the school compound "for security reasons". The Youth and Sports Ministry was in charge of receiving donations and they directed him to a storeroom where he had to leave the goods. He was not allowed to go inside to see what else the people needed. He was told that the goods would be distributed when the people “go home”.
3) A friend told me his uncle had donated 10 crates of Milo to an agency “supposedly” collecting on behalf of a collection centre, and as he left, he heard the receptionist say to an office boy, “Bawa satu masuk dalam.”
‘Anwar Ibrahim was prevented from entering the disaster area to meet the refugees at the Kota Kuala Muda relief centre and the excuse given was that they are conducting a clean-up of the area. Just prior to that, the deputy prime minister was allowed in. The truth is, there is no clean-up going on and whatever attempts being made to restore sanity to the area are being done by PAS members. Puteri Umno members were there, as well as other ‘senior’ members, but they are merely loitering around and eating and drinking the supplies that should instead be distributed to those in dire need.
“Fortunately, the Mercy Malaysia doctors as well as Dr Lee Boon Chye from Perak have based themselves full-time on site. Other than that, no other doctors are available, in particular the government doctors who should by now have set up their medical tents to render medical assistance to those in need. Some of the relief centres are well-stocked but they are being closely guarded by the Puteri Umno members and are not being distributed to those in need. Puteri Umno refuses to distribute anything until a minister or the deputy prime minister can find time to personally do so with the TV crew and reporters in tow. Quietly distributing food and drinks has no political value, never mind how hungry or thirsty the refugees may be.
“There is no chain of command at the relief centres … Malaysia has somehow turned chaos into a fine art and, in the meantime, the refugees go hungry and their health deteriorates.”
5) The Star/ Maybank Tsunami Relief Fund stands at RM567,304.26 as of yesterday (Jan 1) but how much of it has already been distributed to the aid or relief agencies in the disaster areas? The same goes for the Tabung Bencana Alam Tsunami Kerajaan Negeri Melaka which has received RM750,000 in cash and kind. Are they dishing out as they go along or are they waiting until a bigger amount has been reached and they will do the whole photo opportunity thing in a couple of weeks? I wonder…
It said that all donations to the fund will go to Tabung Bantuan Bencana Negara, managed by the Malaysian National Disaster Management and Relief Committee. Now, many Malaysians are of course wary of donating any money to a federal government-managed fund as we know only too well what can happen to that money, so a lot of people this time around (from the many I’ve spoken to) have decided to give straight to Mercy Malaysia or the Red Cross/Crescent, and religious organisations instead.
5) The DAP PJ Action Team yesterday delivered over 140 boxes of clothes, foodstuff and water to the Indonesian embassy but we wonder how soon will it be transported to those in need. We were supposed to deliver to Sri Lankan Airlines but the plane was full yesterday. As we wanted to get the stuff out as quickly as possible, we thought of the Indonesian embassy. What’s worse, someone mentioned the possibility that the government may not be in such a rush to deliver aid to Aceh since the two sides are fighting a civil war. In BBC, it was reported that in Aceh, “the government is unwilling to allow the US military unfettered access,” says the BBC's Jonathan Head, and there are few UN personnel on the ground.
It saddens me that in a time like this, when aid should get to the disaster areas as soon as possible, that we have to contend with all these uncertainties, red tape, and clueless and arrogant officials.
No. 48, Jalan Kemuja, Bangsar Utama 59000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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