Letters: Sharp objects in Biscuit boxes

Wed, 04/08/2009 3:48 PM  |  Reader's Forum

Days have gone by and no further word so far on a report (the Post, April 4, p. 20) on the most deplorable, inhumane act, I've ever come across, namely the tampering of thousands of boxes of biscuits - with razor blades, glass splinters, pins and gravel - that were distributed to children suffering from malnutrition in East Nusa Tenggara. May the perpetrators of this horrendous crime, attempted mass murder, be caught and brought to justice without delay.

As a volunteer myself, I seek to raise community awareness of the growing malnutrition problems in Indonesia and I am at pains to establish what the motive behind such a crime was. Indeed, unless the perpetrators, call it an act of terrorism if you like, are caught quickly, the actions of these deplorable people - an act that would have involved not just one person acting alone, but would have required a group - puts similar humanitarian programs operating across the country in serious jeopardy.

I am aware of at least three such programs working in Nusa Tenggara run by the UN World Program and Care International, the provincial health agency and UNICEF, and Aksi Cepat Tenggap (ACT) under its *Malnutrition Rehabilitation Program'. Agencies such as these, and their many volunteers working towards *making a difference' for the millions of children caught up, through no fault of their own, in the vicious poverty-malnutrition cycle need our never-ending support, not condemnation.

I do hope that the authorities in Jakarta see this as a *national' crime against humanity, not just one restricted to the local area, and that the central authorities employ as many of their own resources as possible to apprehend the offenders. It is a very serious matter.

I have no statistics on East Nusa Tenggara, but in the neighboring West Nusa Tenggara, some 1,207 cases of malnutrition were recorded in 2008, 45 of them fatal. It is unimaginable that there are people out there who callously aim to add to the already unacceptable level of fatalities that are caused by malnutrition.

Don Wilkey
Depok, West Java

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