PROFESSOR NICK BOURNE advocates our cause in the National Assembly for Wales

Partially reproduced: excerpted from the HTML version of "The Record of Proceedings of the the Second Assembly of Wales"; 5pm, 12/01/2005. (linked here)

Professor Nick Bourne AM is the Leader of the Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales

5.00 p.m.

Nick Bourne: I am grateful to Mike German for, rightly, picking this topic and for allowing time over and above what is usually allowed for contributions to the short debate. I have spoken this morning to people in Malaysia who are organising relief efforts in Indonesia. These people have given up their jobs to concentrate on the work full time. I was given an update on the position in the region, where there are massive ongoing problems. The number of dead has been greatly understated, and, from what one can gather, the figure is likely to be well in excess of a quarter of a million. Many have lost their lives in Indonesia, and the country is riddled with remote villages. People there face problems relating to dysentery, hunger and trauma. As Ieuan indicated, trauma is a massive problem, and the young children are afraid of the water. It is a matter of getting money to the region, as well as of sending people on secondment. The local people will respond to people who can speak their own language more than they will to people who are seconded to the region to provide medical care. We should not lose sight of this important point. The most important resource needed is money, and we must pay tribute to those who have organised the concert at the Millennium Stadium.

Mike and Ieuan are right to say that this will be an ongoing issue and, even though it may disappear off the radar and from our television screens and newspapers, it will still be a problem. We need to invest money in infrastructure for the long term. I urge Members to look at the website, <>

It is well worth looking at the website as it provides daily updates on the situation. I ask the First Minister to respond to the points about how we can help to address the serious issues in the region.