1. This disaster, like others before it, has its long list of profiteers. Some are black market vendors making money off misery: pirated DVDs of the tsunami's real-life horror show are now on sale in Indonesia (as seen yesterday), Thailand and India. But there are also people and companies making legitimate profit from the business of disaster relief.
2. New Zealand said today it will ask Indonesia to investigate claims that its military officers have been accepting bribes to place wealthy people on refugee flights out of tsunami-ravaged Aceh. Apparently half the refugees who flew to Jakarta on a New Zealand air force Hercules flight this month were "well dressed people who paid up to 80 dollars to Indonesian military screeners to be allowed on to the plane."
3. According to reports, the leader of an anti-corruption watchdog devoted to exposing crimes by state officials has been arrested in Aceh province for improper handling of aid intended for tsunami victims.
Farid Faqih, chairman of Government Watch (GOWA), and three members of the radical Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) were arrested on yesterday evening on suspicion of violating procedures in the storage and use of aid. The four were reportedly arrested by Air Force officers at the Sultan Iskandar Muda Airbase and handed over to police for further investigation.
4. It's probably true to say that the other pirates that Indonesia has been famous for, the seafaring variety, have been wiped out by the tsunami. This may just mean that they lost their boats rather than their lives so there's no need to feel too upset.
If you can't wait 'til then, you can generate your own error messages.
Thanks, again, to J-Walk Blog.
