Singapore, Japan help Army

JAKARTA: Several private companies from Japan and Singapore handed over on Wednesday 19 units of secondhand buses and trucks to the Indonesian Army to be used in reconstruction work in tsunami-hit Aceh.

The buses and trucks were donated by six Singaporean companies and two Japanese firms and handed over by Eka Kesia, president of PT International Auction Multi-machine (PT IAM), which coordinated the donation.

The assistant to the Army chief of logistics affairs, Maj. Gen. Kirwantara Pattadiredja, who received the aid, said all the buses and trucks would be dispatched to Aceh immediately to help support the Army's operations and the planned reconstruction program in Aceh.

IAM had previously dispatched food and medical aid and 15 units of ambulances, trucks and bulldozers to Aceh. -- JP