By : MOLE.my
KUALA LUMPUR - Amid news on
Malaysian NGOs receiving foreign funds, American blogger Nile Bowie wrote on
the involvement of pro-Israeli organisations with Malaysia's opposition
coalition.
In an in-depth report the
Kuala Lumpur-based blogger wrote on how these foreign funds is a way for the
infiltration of the American interests.
Bowie wrote : As the United
States continues to militarily increase its presence in the Pacific region
inline with its strategic policy shift to East Asia, Washington’s leaders would
like to see compliant heads of state who will act to further American interests
in the ASEAN region.
While allegations of
corruption and economic mismanagement hinder the credibility of ruling Prime
Minister Najib Razak, foreign organizations affiliated with the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and funded by the United States government,
have contributed support toward bolstering the influence and status of
Malaysia’s opposition groups, in addition to the controversial Bersih coalition
for electoral reform, led by Ambiga Sreenevasan.
He said, Ambiga did admit
that two American organisations, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and
Open Society Institute (OSI), funded Bersih but for other projects and were
unrelated to the July 9 march.
Hungarian-American
philanthropist and financier George Soros founded the Open Society Institute in
1993, whose principle aim sought to “strengthen open society principles and
practices against authoritarian regimes and the negative consequences of
globalization,” with an emphasis on countries in transition from communism
after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Former US Secretary of State
Madeline Albright chairs the National Democratic Institute, while its president
Kenneth Wollack, served as the legislative director of the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee who is widely considered to be Israel’s most prominent
lobbyist organization, one that influences American legislation to exert
aggressive Israeli policy and viewpoints.
"Although the
organization boasts of “promoting democracy” and “fortifying civil society”
around the world, history had proven that these tired euphemisms have been used
in numerous countries to mask funding to various political forces opposed to
their national governments and aligned with American interests."
"In addition to
providing funding to the Bersih coalition through the National Democratic
Institute, the National Endowment for Democracy’s Malaysian operation provides
$100,000 (RM 317,260) for political news website Malaysiakini, considered to be
the nation’s most pro-opposition news outlet."
"NED also provides
$90,000 (RM 285,516) to SUARAM, an organization promoting human rights.
The most significant
recipient of NED’s Malaysia programs is the International Republican Institute
(IRI), who annually receives $802,122 (RM 2,544,670) and is tasked to “work
with state leaders in Penang and Selangor to provide them with public opinion
research, training and other resources to enable them to be more effective
representatives of their constituents.”
Penang is held by the DAP,
while Selangor is held by Parti Keadilan Rakyat, two of the three organisations
in the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat, led by (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim.
(The third component of Pakatan is PAS).
"It comes as little
surprise that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim talks boldly of a “Malaysian
Spring,” as the same organizations bolstering the opposition in Kuala Lumpur
have successfully fomented events that led to the series of uprisings across
the Arab World in 2011."
Exerpt of an article
published by the New York Times titled, "U.S. Groups Helped Nurture Arab
Uprisings," :
"...the Bahrain Center
for Human Rights and grass-roots activists like Entsar Qadhi, a youth leader in
Yemen, received training and financing from groups like the International
Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House, a
nonprofit human rights organization based in Washington. The Republican and
Democratic institutes are loosely affiliated with the Republican and Democratic
Parties.."
In the Malaysian context,
opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim maintains close ties with senior US officials
and organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy.
In July 2006, Ibrahim
chaired the Washington-based Foundation for the Future, established and funded
by the US Department of State at the behest of Elizabeth Cheney, the daughter
of then-Vice President Dick Cheney, who was recently convicted in absentia for
war crimes for his issuance of torture during the Iraq war by Kuala Lumpur War
Crimes Commission, chaired by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed.
In 2007, (Anwar) Ibrahim was
a panelist at the National Endowment for Democracy's "Democracy
Award" event held in Washington. [24] These questionable affiliations
raise strong concerns over the legitimacy of the candidate and the
administration he would lead if winning the 13th General Election.
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