To aid or not to aid?
The Burmese people are prime candidates for foreign aid. They are persecuted, starving and oppressed. Which is why, last week, Australia pledged three million dollars to the United Nations World Food Program in Burma. Things are more complicated than they seem though, ethnic aid groups within the country are calling for all aid to stop. They say the military regime has so much control that any money coming into the country is really helping to prop up their corrupt government. They say Australian money is helping sustain this totalitarian regime. Alison Tate from the Australian Burma network, Associate Professor Sean Turnell from Macquarie University and Executive Director of the Australian Council For International Develpoment Paul O’Callaghan speak with Farrin Foster about whether it’s ok to give.