Malaysians contributed RM97.47 million to assist locals and foreigners affected by the tsunami on Dec 26 last year, Parliament was told today.

"Of this, RM60.49 million has been handed over to the national disaster fund which is managed by the national security department. But RM36.97 million has yet to be handed over," said foreign affairs ministry's parliamentary secretary Zainal Abidin Osman.

However, he did not state who is holding the balance or why the amount has not been handed over as yet.

Zainal Abidin, who was replying during question time, also said Malaysia had received RM6.8 million from eight neighbouring countries during the disaster, with Singapore's contribution of RM3.8 million topping the list.

No aid was received from the United Nations, he said.

On the same note, he revealed that RM24.76 million was collected for the Asia tsunami disaster fund, managed by his ministry.

Part of the funding has been delivered to three countries - Indonesia (RM3 million), Sri Lanka (RM1 million) and the Maldives (RM530,000). There was no details about the balance of RM20.23 million.

Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin (BN-Papar) had requested information on the total sum collected for survivors of the tsunami.

Detailed disclosure

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had said he would disclose the amount collected and how the money has been used, when the parliamentary session began this week.

"I will make a detailed disclosure on the amount collected from the public, corporate bodies, state governments and other parties, as well as how we have utilised the fund," said Najib, who is also chairperson of the national disaster management and relief committee which manages the fund.

"I am sure the public would like to know how their donations were used to assist the tsunami victims in our country."

Some villagers in Penang who were affected had complained previously that nothing had been done to alleviate their suffering.