In Reply to: Damn it Cliff ! posted by Bokhara on Friday, 7. January 2005 at 04:08 Bali Time:
Remember, it was only a week or so ago that people here were saying, "See, Cliff, Australia gave 10 million dollars." They would have been satisfied with that level of aid. If we'd all been satisfied with that, then this meagre amount would have been all that was sent.
I have given, and will continue to give, credit to the Australian people who didn't merely ratify the increased funding amount, they demanded it. And they did so for many reasons, some of which I have listed. Not to mention that they've dipped into their own pockets for an extra 100 million or so.
As mentioned, though, if aid comes with strings attached, it is not really aid. That's how we got to the stage where the UN is stuffed up because so many countries have "free trade" agreements with the US that demand they vote with the US on all resolutions. And I'm not sure what Australia will negotiate out of this situation, but it appears certain that the Bush regime (which has been opposed by the senate on this issue for some time) will use it as an excuse to begin selling weapons to Indonesia again. And that's the last thing anyone needs.
I've already given Suharto more than a few kickings here, and am happy to kick him a few more times until he gives the money back. And I won't let people forget that he was a favourite of the US and Australian Governments. They all made money together while people died and starved.
Yes, some countries have been stingier than Australia. I leave it to their citizens to bombard their governments with letters, calls and emails. It's what Australians did, and we got the level of funding increased to 100 times the initial amount. Not bad. But the response was still too slow. In other words, it's good news for the survivors, but bad news for those who didn't survive but should have.
As for the corporations that make billions while Indonesians continue to work for two dollars a day... they get no apologies from me. Many of them donated, and so they should.
As for SBY ridding Indonesia of corruption... we have to wait and see. I suspect he'll be trying to rid his opponents of corruption long before he targets his friends (especially the military). In an earlier post I copied some articles about the siphoning of aid and gave people links to aid groups that are working around this problem.
I'm sorry you are frustrated by my dissatisfaction with elements of the Australian response. But if everyone had been satisfied, the level of assistance would have been much lower. So I suppose I can give some credit to the Howard Government for listening to the people for once. Let's hope he enjoyed the experiment and tries it again some day.