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Govt ready to repay aid to Australia, says VP
Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said that Australia was one of 56 countries that sent humanitarian relief to Indonesia when a powerful earthquake and tsunami devastated Aceh on Dec
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ice President Jusuf Kalla has said that Australia was one of 56 countries that sent humanitarian relief to Indonesia when a powerful earthquake and tsunami devastated Aceh on Dec. 26, 2004, but if Australia wanted payment for the aid, the government was ready to return the money.
'I have already explained that after the tsunami, we knew and received humanitarian relief from 56 countries, including Australia. Australia is only one of the 56 countries. If the aid is deemed not humanitarian in nature, we will pay it back,' he said at his vice presidential office in Jakarta on Monday.
Kalla, however, said that the Australian government had recently corrected Prime Minister Tony Abbott's statement requesting the cancellation of the execution of two Australian death-row convicts in return for Australia's aid following the devastating disaster in Aceh.
Abbott recently called on the Indonesian government not to forget Canberra's contribution to post-tsunami Aceh and pay it back by halting the plan to execute the two Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
'He [Abbott] explained and realizes that it [the statement] was a mistake,' Kalla said as quoted by kompas.com.
Asked to comment on the public's move to collect coins for Abbott in a number of cities, including Jakarta and Banda Aceh, the vice president said it was an expression of the people's emotional response to the Australian government's statements.
He said it was similar to when people collected coins to pay blood money to Saudi Arabia to cancel the execution of Indonesian death-row convicts there. (rms)(++++)
