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Kalla Tells Red Cross Employees Not to Copy Politicians
Made Arya Kencana | March 28, 2010

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Former Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Saturday warned Indonesian Red Cross employees and volunteers not to imitate the workings of political parties.

“During the campaign season, they all work. But when the campaign season is over and done with, they disappear, one by one,” said Kalla, chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).

Speaking from the resort island of Bali, Kalla said that Red Cross staff members and volunteers had to be in a state of constant readiness to allow them to respond quickly to disasters.

“Don’t just wait in your offices. It would be far better if you went out and set up blood donation posts in malls or office buildings,” Kalla said.

The former Golkar Party chairman was speaking after the PMI announced on Wednesday that it planned to open between 125 and 150 blood donation centers in shopping malls and on university campuses by June this year.

“ This year, the PMI plans to collect three million bags of blood and four million next year,” Kalla said on Wednesday.

He also said the PMI would provide a blood delivery service to hospitals, and added that the organization would build a plant to manufacture blood bags domestically rather than importing them.

On Saturday, Kalla asked the public to support the PMI to help it meet its blood donation targets.

“Our organization’s work is linked to the public,” Kalla said. “When a disaster occurs, the public helps through blood donations. The need for blood during a disaster is also a public need.”

He praised the PMI office in Bali for its well-equipped emergency facilities and the expertise of its employees and volunteers. Kalla reminded PMI workers on the island always to be on the alert because Bali’s reputation as one of the world’s top travel destinations put it in the global spotlight.

“No matter how small the disaster, if it occurs in Bali, news will reach all corners of the globe,” Kalla said.

I Gusti Lanang Made Rudiartha, the director of Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar, said PMI’s Bali office had trouble funding its operations because of its reliance on the provincial budget. He said foreign donations poured in after the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, but most of this money had since dried up.

Kalla asked businesspeople across the country to provide financial assistance to the PMI so the organization could continue to carry out its work.

“In times of disaster, lots of businesspeople provide help, but this is not the case during normal periods,” he said.