The Lost Boy

So where is your money going?

I was trawling through the archives when I came across this blog post I wrote in 2007.

More than 8,000 people were killed in Thailand by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. A number of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) teams from around the world joined together to form Thailand Tsunami Victim Identification (TTVI). Donations from countless countries helped fund TTVI.

Out of an estimated 36 million baht in funds, 30 million baht is unaccounted for, suspected of being gobbled up by corrupt members of the Royal Thai Police, the group who have been overseeing the operation of TTVI.

Last November, the ambassadors of seven countries (including the UK, the US and France) signed a letter to the Royal Thai Police written by Thailand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nitya Pibulsonggra demanding to know how donations had been used. Nothing happened.

That was more than four years ago. The idea of money going missing caused something of a stir back then, but I'm wondering how far we've come since that time. Have we learnt enough lessons from the past make us at least question where donated money is going, in Thailand if not the rest of the region/world? Sadly I think we still have a way to go.

Condo charity

The other day, I was on my way to work when someone gave my a leaflet (pictured, left) printed by a property company. The pitch? Buy a condo for X amount of baht and the company in question will donate 10,000 baht to flood-relief efforts. As you can see from the leaflet, there's a picture of some people, Thai soldiers,trying to stop the flow of water. The first thing to note here is that the picture is copyright AP/Altaf Qadri. The photo shouldn't be on that leaflet unless permission has been sought from AP, which I doubt is the case here.

What's most troubling is this idea that they will donate money to the flood relief yet they don't state where exactly the money will be going. Trying to get people to buy a condo based on a promise to donate money to charity is sketchy as best, especially given that the disaster has yet to run its course, but by not saying where the money will go the property company's pledge is worthless.

Too many times I've seen it during this disaster that businesses have been using flood relief as part of some kind of sales pitch. Restaurants have been doing it along with large chain supermarkets and others. If you buy what they are selling they will donate money to helping people affected by the flooding.

The businesses don't say where the money is actually going and the general public generally doesn't ask questions. There is nothing wrong with businesses contributing to the relief effort — it should be encouraged — but it has to be done transparently, honestly and with integrity. It's misleading and dishonest to play on people's high emotions at this time and use the current situation as a marketing tool if you can't even tell the public where the money will be going.

If a business or any group is going to raise money for the flood-relief effort then I want to know where that money is going. If a group is collecting money from the public and they can't say how it's going to be used then there's a fundamental problem with how they're operating. If you give money to anyone in the name of the Thailand floods you should be able to feel confidence in the people taking your money. A lot of the time, even with fundraising public groups who I'm certain have nothing but good intentions, I don't have that confidence. At least one of these groups has taken a considerable amount of money with the intention of embarking on a kind of DIY relief effort. This makes me uncomfortable.

To sum up, we know already that some money will be lost, some will be wasted, some will not be put to the best use, but if we all start to ask questions and raise our hands when we see things we aren't sure about then at least we can begin to analyse what's happening before it spirals even further out of control.