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Home , Badruddin Amiruldin, Dewan Rakyat, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Mohd Hayati Othman, Najib Razak

Tsunami Disaster Fund Where the money went? Chok Suat Ling

KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 5:

The Government has disbursed more than 95 per cent of funds collected from the public for Malaysian victims of the tsunami which struck the region on Dec 26 last year.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri said RM65.19 million of the total RM68.56 million received by the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) has been channelled to victims through various Federal and State agencies.

Of this amount, the Press and its associate companies, TV3 and 8TV, accounted for the bulk of collections from the public.

Malaysians and foreigners had donated generously following the Aceh earthquake and the subsequent tsunami which killed 68 people in the country and more than 270,000 in the region.

Replying to questions raised in the on how the funds were used, Najib said RM21.4 million was distributed directly to families of the 68 people who died in the country and the six who died abroad as cash compensation, and to other victims for repairs of homes and boats, hospitalisation and evacuation.

Another RM20.76 million was used for paying one-third of the cost of houses built for the victims and RM23 million for infrastructure repair in the farming and fishing community.

Najib said houses had also been built for victims.

"Owners need only pay RM50 a month, as all else is paid for by the fund or subsidised by the Government," he added.

Najib said corporations and others donated RM24.8 million directly to the NDRF while another RM43.8 million was collected from the public by media organisations.

Najib thanked the media for their role.

However, not all the money pledged to, and by the media organisations, had been given to the NDRF yet.

The media groups had received pledges totalling RM72.94 million. The NSTP group and its associate companies received pledges of RM44.7 million through their Malaysian Tsunami Disaster Fund and have handed over RM37.7 million to the NDRF.

Cheques for another RM4.6 million, collected by the NST, were made out directly to the National Disaster Relief Fund and have been credited into the NDRF account, bringing the total amount handed over by the NSTP Group to RM42.3 million.

Najib said that Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Fund pledged RM21,573,151. However, only RM3,131,885.68 had been credited to the Government fund so far.

Utusan ’s Tabung Kemanusiaan Aceh Utusan-Maybank has credited RM2.86 million but the newspaper has yet to credit another RM3,733,395.71 for the NDRF.

The Government had also received RM24.98 million for the Asia Tsunami Disaster Fund from within the country and abroad. Of this, RM3 million was given to Indonesia, RM1 million to Sri Lanka and RM530,000 to the Maldives.

Najib said the people in Aceh were thankful for the assistance extended by Malaysia.

"We also want to extend aid to those in Nias Island which just experienced an earthquake. We are prepared to send a SMART team and a group from Mercy Malaysia but there has been a delay in receiving approval from the Indonesian Government."

Najib added that victims who have yet to receive aid from the fund should make their cases known.

Several MPs had wanted to know why some victims had yet to receive any form of aid.

Datuk (BN-Bera) pointed out that some fishermen in had yet to receive equipment and houses promised.

Lim Hock Seng (DAP-Bagan) said there were six families of fish breeders in Tanjung Piandang and 15 in Kuala Kurau who had not received compensation.

Datuk (BN-Jerai) drew laughter when he said fishermen who could not catch fish will "catch MPs instead".

Dr (Pas-Pendang) asked why a family received money for the death of a mother but not her son. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/Frontpage/20050406074433/Article/indexb_html