Friday, January 9, 2009

malaysiakini and WHY MALAYSIA Cannot Help in GAZA

Malaysian leaders have an almost Pavlovian response whenever fighting breaks out between Israel and the terrorist groups that control much of Palestine.
Perhaps we have been conditioned for so many years with the description of the Government of Israel as the Zionist regime.
I wonder if they refer to us as the Hadhari regime?
This letter in malaysiakini gives a clue as to why Malaysian leaders cannot really help much for a peaceful settlement in Gaza.
No doubt ordinary Malaysians will respond generously to calls for donations and there are three organisations that are asking us to contribute, namely Mercy Malaysia(MM), MCRS and the NSTP fund.
The first 2 are registered bodies that have to account for all funds received while the last one is being organised by a newspaper.
I suggest the NSTP should have used its resources to seek funds for the two registered bodies rather than start another fund. How are such donations accounted for?
For example after the tsunami of 2004 the public also donated but I don't recall seeing any accounts published by any newspaper.
Of course we should be concerned with the war in Gaza and contribute if we can. Sometimes it is better to be charitable than worry about how charities use the funds but they too should be accountable for the funds.
As for the other 2 bodies, I wonder why they cannot coordinate their efforts rather than have 2 separate teams flying off to Gaza.
I read somewhere that the leader of MM could not enter her destination and was held back about 2km away. Sometimes as the leader, one needs to be careful or your death could mean the collapse of the whole organisation.
My suggestion is that between MM and MCRS, only one coordinating team should have been sent (whoever can go earliest) and that person reports back to KL HQs who then send teams based on needs and capabilities.
It is wasteful to send separate teams as it is unnecessary duplication of efforts.

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