Tarnished Images in Aceh

THIS is the story of rats. In an area devastated by tsunami disaster, when people came bringing millions of dollars in relief aid, these vermin also made their presence known.

The tsunami which devastated Aceh in December 2004 leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead and thousands of houses and hectares of farmland destroyed, drew sympathy from all parts of the world. Non-governmental organizations flocked in to help rebuild the battered province, coming as they were like angels from the sky with cash and love.

A year has since passed. People wont imagine what they thought would ever happen: the presence of rats gnawing on the millions of dollars in relief aid for the tsunami victims.

Three international organizations alleged to have misappropriated relief funds are FIG (Germany), Oxfam (Britain), and Save the Children (Britain). The modus operandi is invariably the same: a markup of the price or a cut in the cost of the project, involving field contractors, consultants, and expatriates.

In the end, corruption is not a matter of skin colornatives or expatriates, local residents or people from other parts of Indonesiaits a matter of opportunities. And in post-tsunami Aceh such opportunities are wide open.

In Aceh, those three NGOs could be the tip of an iceberg. Hopefully, that is not the case: they are merely a stain on an otherwise clean sheet of humanitarian effort.