Thursday, January 06, 2005
“WE ARE HERE AS YOUR FRIENDS”
Australia will commit $1 billion to post-tsunami rebuilding:
The aid package is the largest single donation ever given by Australia.
“This is a terrible tragedy for mankind. But what we are saying, to the people of Indonesia particularly, is that we are here as your friends,” Mr Howard told the Nine Network.
“There’s an old saying in the English language that charity begins at home.
“Our home is this region and we are saying to the people of our nearest neighbour that we are here to help you in your hour of need.”
Several e-mailers have noticed that Labor leader Mark Latham hasn’t urged his party’s followers to join the aid effort. I held off posting about this, mainly because it seemed redundant (given already massive donations) but also because a note from a claimed ALP member suggested there was something more to Latham’s silence. Which turns out to be the case:
The Opposition Leader, Mark Latham, under pressure over his failure to express personally his sympathy for victims of the tsunami, has been laid low by illness, according to his office.
A spokesman said last night Mr Latham had been hit 10 days ago by a recurrence of the pancreatitis he suffered last August, 12 days before the federal election was called.
Labor MPs have privately criticised Mr Latham’s failure to make a public appearance in the 11 days since the tsunami.
One question: couldn’t a member of Latham’s staff have drafted a press release? It would’ve taken 30 minutes, tops.
UPDATE. Religious debate over the tsunami continues:
Buddhist leader Venerable Lama Choedak Rinpoche also suggested the good might eventually outweigh the bad.
He said the tsunami was part of the collective karma of the universe, and could be a catalyst for peace, harmony and generosity.
“To us it seems very big, but when people sweep their driveway they kill hundreds of ants without calling it a tsunami. That kind of suffering and turbulence are happening all the time, and Buddha’s explanation is purification of negative karma. It is not the karma of those individuals or punishment by a super-being.”
Hmm. Meanwhile, America’s assistance for Asia’s “hundreds of ants” is addressed by the West Australian‘s Pam Casellas (no link available; via reader Elliot B.):
Yet again, the generosity shown by Americans towards the victims of a natural disaster is nothing short of overwhelming. When compared with the paltry sums offered by any Arab countries, it should be enough to embarrass the most hardened Yank-knockers into silence, if not warm applause.
History shows that when the world is in need, the US has stood tall. Rather than having to wear the “stingy” label stuck on it by United Nations under-secretary for humanitarian affairs Jan Egeveld, the country is without question one of the most generous, well-organised and reliable contributors of world aid - even in places where its cultural or economic presence is limited. Rather than being flogged mercilessly by its own and the world’s media for its transgression, the US should feel justified in saying: “Hey, we do good things, too.”
It’s true that in the case of the tsunami appeal the initial pledge of $35 million was on the low side. But when the scale of the tragedy became evident the US Government lifted its aid to a whopping $350 million.
Hardly stingy, by any measure, as surely the country’s most strident critics must recognise. And critics there are in plenty.