Aceh's aid aftershock

Aceh's aid aftershock

Now that the tsunami relief money for Aceh is on the table, there is a tussle looming over how to spend it. The rosy bilateral glow of January -- when Australia made its A$1 billion pledge -- was always going to dim when it came to the much tougher task of hammering out the details.

That challenge begins next week in Canberra when Australian and Indonesian ministers meet for the first time over the tsunami aid package. And the differences are already apparent.

But there are sound longstanding reasons foreign governments do not hand over chunks of cash to plug the national budgets of any country. Experience shows that while foreign aid intended for health, for example, may indeed go to health, it can, at the same time, free up funds for, say, arms purchases. Thus the aid produces no net benefit.

Canberra can, however, afford to be sympathetic and should commit itself to building Indonesian expertise, not just sending in Australian officials. There is room, too, for some flexibility about where Australia's money goes. Indonesia is a very poor, populous nation. Resentment could be fostered if Aceh gets a Rolls-Royce health system and other impoverished communities are left to struggle. But conditions in Aceh are so daunting that no donor should be rushing to spend its money too quickly, nor pump it into the Indonesian budget instead. There is only one road to recovery in Aceh; it is long, slow and very bumpy. -- The Sydney Morning Herald