tsunami aid not reaching the grassroot

many people came forward to donate cash and kind to the dec. 26 tsunami victimes. many aids were handled by NGOs, and of course we have those handled by the government.

the govt. promised to deliver aids to fishermen in kuala muda, kedah and penang but 6 months after the tragedy, yet many fishermen lamented that they had not recieved aids from the govt.

one fisherman, badaruddin, said”
“The government promised us two things, $6,500 for those who lost fibreglass boats, and $18,000 for those who lost wooden ones. But all we’ve been given is $250 for fibreglass boats, and $800 for wooden boats.”

what happened? they don’t have that enough money (from the donations) to give away? not at all! the thing is that somewhere along the line middlemen are helping themselves to money meant for tsunami victims. sad, isn’t it?

well, come to think of it, it’s not surprising (at least not in our bolehland!). even the clothes, medical supplies, sanitary items, etc. we donated, we knew most of them might not reach the victims. a media executive said:
“We know full well that when we took along gifts donated by viewers and readers to the villages, very often they went no further than the headman. But what can you do?”
and i heard some gifts or donated items were taken by soldiers!

go and read the BBC’s take on the mystery of malaysia’s tsunami aid.

UPDATED: lone also blog on this topic here.