Asiri charity night

Asiri charity night

From Media Indonesia

I was one of the many present at the Asiri & Indonesian
artists charity night held in the grand ballroom of Mulia Hotel,
Senayan, Jakarta on March 13, 2000.

The Asiri chairman in his address that night pointed out that
the money raised would be used to help refugees in Maluku and
East Nusa Tenggara/Timor, as well as any other victims of natural
disasters in Indonesia.

The charity night, with Tantowi Yahya and Titik Puspa as
master of ceremonies, succeeded in raising quite a lot of
disaster relief funds. If I'm not mistaken, approximately Rp 600
million.

Thanks to the skills of Tantowi Yahya and Titik Puspa, Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso also gave his support by exempting the
committee from paying entertainment tax.

The committee, though, has until now not publicized all the
money it collected and how much of it has been channeled to
refugees in Maluku, East Timor or Aceh. I need to hear something
about the funds raised simply because I was in the audience that
night.

I'm worried about the possibility that the charity night was
abused in the interests of a group of people and the money raised
was never given to those in need who have the right to it. I
think the committee should be transparent in this particular
case.

Now then that there so many disasters in Indonesia
(earthquakes in Bengkulu, floods in Bogor, etc) and regions
plagued with conflict and unrest like Aceh, Maluku, East Timor,
and Sulawesi, where thousands of refugees are suffering, I'd like
to suggest that the committee transfer the funds to the refugees
through the office of the State Minister for Social Affairs or
any other recommended agencies.

WENDA KURNIAWAN

Jakarta