Donors want to know how victims are aided

Donors want to know how victims are aided

V.K. Chin
The Star Online
Asia News Network
Selangor, Malaysia

Malaysians have responded magnificently to appeals to help
victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami and this shows clearly that the
milk of human kindness still flows strongly in their veins.

While they have contributed tens of millions spontaneously,
without expecting anything in return, they also have a right to
know how fast their cash and materials are reaching the victims
and whether this is evenly spread out.

While time is of the essence in an emergency situation, this
is not the case in Malaysia as the number of people killed or
wounded and left homeless was rather small compared to the other
countries affected by the disaster.

This has enabled the authorities and non-governmental
organizations to deal effectively in providing food, shelter and
cash to the victims almost immediately.

The government and its agencies can now concentrate on the
longer-term projects like reconstruction and rehabilitation
without further delay.

This is crucial where the majority of the donors are
concerned, as they would like to know too how their contributions
in cash and kind are being dispersed.

In other words, they would like some transparency and
accountability in the carrying out of this operation, which is
not too much to ask for in return for their support to this
campaign.

This is also in line with the Abdullah administration's
principles on how the government and even the private sector
should conduct its business. The public and shareholders should
be given as much information and details as possible.

The government wants the national disaster fund to be
responsible for the donations and decide on how the money should
be spent. This is of course a good policy, as the government
would want to safeguard the funds collected.

However, the disaster fund committee is staffed with
bureaucrats who are most probably wearing many other hats apart
from their official duties.

Their decisions, if approved by the government leader in
charge, are likely to be final. What the public wants is for
these senior government officials to ensure that no victim is
left out.

After all, they are humans too and the best way of ensuring a
fair distribution of funds is to make it known how the funds are
allocated and the number of sufferers who have received financial
assistance.

Since this is not an exercise where official secrets are
involved, there should be no worry of making such information
public as national interest and security will not be compromised.

At the same time, it is the duty of the government to do a
proper check on those applying for financial assistance to
separate the genuine ones from the cheats and scroungers.