Australia's non-government donations for the 2004 tsunami victims have been found spent in promoting Western values in some Asian countries, The Australian daily reported on Thursday.
A survey by the newspaper revealed that much of the 400 million dollars (344 million U.S. dollars) donated by Australians about three years ago has been used by aid agencies on "politically correct projects promoting left-wing Western values over traditional Asian culture."
A traveling show by Oxfam, an independent Australian aid organization, in Indonesia encouraged a change of rural male attitudes towards women, the report said.
Another Oxfam project instructed Thai workers in Australian-style industrial activism and encouraged them to set up trade unions, according to the survey.
A World Vision tsunami relief project in the Indonesian province of Aceh included a lobbying campaign to advance land reform to promote gender equity, as well as educating women in "democratic processes" and encouraging them to enter politics, said the report.
The newspaper quoted critics as saying the aid agencies have exceeded the mandate provided to them by donors, which did not include forcing the ideological views of the Australian Left on traditional Asians.
About 230,000 people in 12 Indian Ocean states were killed in the tsunami generated by an earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004.
Source: Xinhua
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