Councilors demand thorough investigation of biscuit case

Yemris Fointuna ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Kupang   |  Sat, 06/13/2009 1:16 PM  |  The Archipelago

Councilors at the East Nusa Tenggara provincial legislature urged the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), security forces and other related institutions, to thoroughly investigate the case of sharp objects found inside biscuits donated to elementary school students in Kupang and other regencies in the province.

Boxes of biscuits donated by the UNWFP to malnourished elementary school children in Kupang, Belu and North Timor Tengah regencies were found to contain sharp objects such as razor blades, splinters, gravel, pins and nails.

"The donations were very noble. Why would they contain sharp objects? The WFP must give a more transparent clarification on the matter, including who is responsible for the sabotage," deputy speaker of the provincial legislative council, Kristo Blasin said Friday.

Ten-year old Arianto Sulam Sitaba, a fourth-grader at the Oeli'i II state-run elementary school in Oematnunu subdistrict, Kupang, nearly choked to death when a pin pierced his mouth as he bit into one of the donated biscuits last month (not Wednesday as reported by The Jakarta Post yesterday).

The story was revealed Wednesday when the school reported the case to the police.

Another councilor, Karel Yani Mbuik, urged the provincial administration to evaluate the biscuit donations.

"The administration must also take responsibility. How could it let the students eat biscuits containing sharp objects," Karel said.

He also expressed hope the investigation would be finished in the near future, the results of which he said, must be announced to the public.

Soleman Dethan, nutrition rehabilitation program manager at the Alfa Omega Foundation, which distributed the biscuits in Kupang, confirmed Friday that sharp objects were found in the biscuits distributed in seven districts in Kupang.

Soleman said the incidents occurred between the first and third weeks of May. He added that his foundation had withdrawn a total 3.5 tons of biscuits. However, he did not elaborate on how many biscuits had been distributed in the regions.

"We don't know for sure where the sabotage took place," he added.

UNWFP Indonesia deputy country director, Brasly Bussefe, said previously that sabotage might have been behind the incidents, when he responded to similar cases found in Belu and North Timor Tengah in April. He said an investigation conducted by his organization confirmed that both the production and distribution processes were 100 percent safe.

The organization's public relations officer, Mitra Salima, separately told the Post on the phone, that the UNWFP had handed the case over to the police and were awaiting the results of the investigation. Mitra also said the UNWFP had promptly stopped distributing the biscuits and had withdrawn those already distributed as soon as they heard of the reports. "It's deplorable for us that because of the incidents, hundreds of thousands of malnourished children can no longer receive the nutrition aid," Mitra said.

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