Incompetent Aceh reconstruction effort. Right?

policy ▪

Conventional wisdom says that the handling of Aceh reconstruction has been utterly incompetent. But, wait! Before leaping to judgment, see first the following New York Times editorial...:

It is an indication of how far relief organizations are from finding the best possible procedures that the effort in Indonesia actually compares favorably to the aftermath of other large-scale disasters. The pace of reconstruction there far outstrips the halting progress made in New Orleans as we near the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf Coast.

Clearly, there is always room for improvement in Aceh reconstructiong, but having a comparative perspective is certainly helpful to tune our expectations.