When delegates at a tsunami aid world summit in Jakarta tucked into beef, lamb, chicken and swordfish even as Indonesians scavenged for food on demolished coastlines, it was perhaps a sign that not all funds raised for victims would reach those who needed it most.
Now with 10 billion dollars of aid on the table, at least half of which is earmarked for Indonesia, there are concerns that such a tasty cash windfall will be nibbled away as it passes through greedy bureaucratic hands.
Indonesia bore the brunt of the magnitude-9.0 quake and tsunami, losing huge tracts of coastline and entire towns. Reconstruction is expected to last for years and require most, if not all the aid that is offered.
But before the December 26 disaster that killed 110,000 of its citizens, Indonesia was already battling a tide of corruption that has long blighted the country's wheezing economy.
As help pours in from all directions with bookkeeping brushed aside by the urgency of the situation, many fear that the Southeast Asian country's toxic proclivity for syphoning off cash may already be taking effect.
"It's only a matter of time," Todung Mulya Lubis of corruption watchdog Transparency International Indonesia told AFP. "I haven't heard any example yet, but coordination is very weak so I won't be surprised when it happens."
Transparency International ranks Indonesia in its top 10 of worst offenders, with an ungovernable reputation for kickbacks, collusion and bribery that has scared away badly needed foreign investment.
Aceh's governor Abdullah Puteh is behind bars at the moment, accused in a helicopter purchase embezzlement scam worth 100,000 dollars – a paltry sum compared to the 35 billion allegedly amassed by former dictator Suharto.
New President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has described his country's lack of probity as the laughing stock of Asia, said after the disaster that the misappropriation of relief funds would not be tolerated.
"It's a very serious problem," according US ambassador to Jakarta B. Lynn Pascoe, who says Indonesia will receive a substantial part of 350 million dollars promised by the United States.
Despite the concerns, there are indications that the Indonesian government is taking steps to prevent corruption as it strives for credibility on an international stage upon which it is a relative newcomer.
William M. Frej, the official US Agency for International Development mission director for Indonesia, said that government officials had hired accounting firm Ernst and Young to monitor the grants it would receive.
"We have every reason to believe that all the finance that will be channeled to this country will be utilised in a very open, transparent way, that there will be a certain amount of governance involved with it," he said.
Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab said the government would also throw its books open to further inspection. "We welcome reputable public auditors to see, inspect and inform the government if there is any malpractice in the process," he said.
Others see the tsunami distribution as a test case that Indonesia cannot afford to lose if it wants to retain the help of the United Nations in overcoming the worst disaster in the country's history. "The pressure will be strong on Indonesia. If it does not stop embezzlement, the UN will bring its fist down on the table," said one western diplomat here.
Some Indonesian government officials, however, believe that it is perhaps the United Nations that requires scrutiny, particularly in the wake of a scandal over its tainted "oil-for-food" programme in Iraq. "As we know, even in the United Nations there is a lot of corruption, and we should be careful about this," commented Secretary of State Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
Transparency International's Lubis warned that unless Indonesia laid all its cards on the table, the country could lose the cash even before its corrupters get the chance to skim it off. "Donors want the money to go to the victims, and if there is no transparency and no accountability, it is conceivable that they will not be bringing aid into Indonesia."