Indonesia Reviewing Relief Operations

The government announced Tuesday that it was “reviewing the presence of all humanitarian organizations” working on tsunami relief in Aceh province, raising fears that some foreign groups will be told to scale back operations or leave the area just as billions of dollars in reconstruction aid begins to roll in.

Aid groups have been on edge, waiting to hear the Indonesian government’s plans for the province after the state of emergency triggered by the tsunami formally ends March 26. Tuesday’s announcement offered only vague clues as to which groups will qualify to stay on for reconstruction.

The government is eager to reassert sovereignty over the mountainous coastal province, where separatist rebels have battled the Indonesian military for nearly three decades. The province was under martial law and closed to most foreigners on Dec. 26 when the earthquake and tsunami struck, killing more than 125,000 people in Aceh alone.

Indonesia said it was conducting a review with the United Nations and foreign governments to determine which groups were in the country, what they were doing there and whether they would be essential to the rebuilding process after March 26.

“The criteria for those organizations that will continue operating in Aceh after that date are those that will make proven concrete contributions to the reconstruction phase,” the government said in a statement issued in Jakarta, the capital.

Many foreign donors worry that Aceh’s endemic corruption will flourish if they are forced to leave. They argue that the presence of the aid workers has held corruption in check and say they must be allowed to stay to oversee the distribution of reconstruction money.

In a survey released Tuesday by Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd., expatriate business leaders ranked Indonesia the most corrupt country in Asia. The firm urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to set an example by using the tsunami money openly and for the benefit of victims.

Foreign donors worry that the Indonesian military and some affiliated private companies merely want a share of the reconstruction business. Aid groups with links to the government say those interests are pressuring Yudhoyono to at least reduce the presence of foreign aid workers in Aceh.

The number of foreigners here is unknown. Overseas aid groups swamped the province with staff, money and equipment after the government decided to accept outside help, and many veteran aid workers acknowledge that there are too many people doing overlapping jobs.

The United Nations estimates there are 340 agencies working in Aceh, though only a quarter that number responded to a recent survey by the world body asking them to identify themselves and say what work they were doing.

“We’ve been expecting more administrative demands, and we understand the logic of that -- as long as we are allowed to deliver our services to people who need them,” said Edi Cosic, who runs the International Medical Corps operation in Banda Aceh. “I have to say, the first three months have been rather chaotic, and not everyone in here has served the population well.

“We’re not the biggest supporters of this government,” Cosic said. “But maybe they should have asserted more control.”

In the last month, Indonesia has required foreigners entering Aceh to register with police or the Foreign Ministry, and it has restricted some of their movements. The government says it is worried about rebel attacks on aid workers, and occasionally it has insisted that troops escort them through contested areas.

Aid groups have noted that the rebels have pledged to not attack their workers.

Jakarta’s statement Tuesday pledged to continue allowing foreign journalists into Aceh because “donor countries will require a high level of accountability.”

There has been much speculation in Banda Aceh that the review of the aid organizations is Jakarta’s way of filtering out foreigners it is uncomfortable having in the country. There have been widespread reports of proselytizing by some Christian groups, which are seen as particularly vulnerable to being told to leave predominantly Muslim Indonesia.

But the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees also has been mentioned by a government spokesman as an organization whose mandate might not be extended past March 26.

The UNHCR has raised about $60 million for projects in Aceh. But Indonesian officials note that those who lost their homes in Aceh are technically displaced people rather than refugees.