Zahid calls for probe into Soros funding claim

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Monday (Oct 31) called for an investigation into claims that an organisation linked to Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros was funding local civil society groups and a news portal in the country.

Mr Zahid said the concern was not about who exactly is funding these organisations or why are they doing so, but rather the involvement of external parties in the country’s political scene.

“Politics in Malaysia follows a mould it is most suited to. There is no need for outside interference, not to mention funding of political activities in support for or against any individual or group,” he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

Mr Zahid’s remarks came after Red Shirt leader Jamal Yunos had claimed on Sunday that news portal Malaysiakini, electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 and opinion research firm Merdeka Centre had received a total of RM3.2 billion (S$1.06 billion) over several years from the Open Society Foundation (OSF) chaired by Mr Soros.

Mr Jamal, who is also United Malays National Organisation (Umno) Sungai Besar division chief, had based his claim on leaked documents from whistleblower site DCLeaks.

DC Leaks had previously posted a three-page document titled “Malaysia Programme - Portfolio Outcome Summary” which purportedly outlined efforts by OSF to influence Malaysian politics through its next general election due to be held by 2018.

The leaked document contained minutes of a meeting dated June 22 last year which had outlined strategies for the national polls, including plans to support civil society efforts and mobilisation of rural youths and women to ensure free and fair elections. It also stated that Mr Soros has “a personal interest in elections”.

Among the listed attendees for the meeting were OSF president Christopher Stone and Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research director Ibrahim Suffian.

Mr Suffian confirmed on Sunday he was present for the meeting, which he said was a review of civil society groups.

He added that he had attended to provide an overview on Malaysian non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“It was held in slots and I was called in to provide my professional opinion on the trends and landscape of civil society groups in Malaysia,” Mr Suffian said.

“There was no hint or indication the meeting was about meddling in the country’s internal politics.”

He added that Merdeka Centre valued its neutrality, being an organisation that studied opinions besides providing unbiased reports of its findings.

The document also made numerous mentions of “grants” apparently being made to their local “network” and said financial support by the OSF was instrumental in galvanising public participation, resulting in a massive mobilisation of the country’s youth.

Among difficulties faced by OSF in its intervention were the inability to coordinate its local networks and the lack of a strong local spokesman and coverage of OSF by local media.

The document also singled out Malaysiakini as having received specific allocations from OSF particularly for its online broadcast service KiniTV for election reporting.

The report did not mention any non-government groups by name.

Bersih had previously admitted to receiving funding from the OSF, but maintained it was a one-off grant.

“We are locally funded and fully transparent about our funding. Despite many attempts to tie us to foreign interests, we are in fact a completely Malaysian grassroots movement,” Bersih chairman Maria Chin Abdullah told Malay Mail on Monday.

She added that the grant from OSF was a token sum meant to “show solidarity with international civil society groups” and the money had never been used to fund Bersih rallies.

Mr Soros has been linked to pro-democracy movements and colour revolutions in Eastern Europe, some of which have used violent means to overthrow governments.

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had accused Mr Soros of engineering the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis but the two reconciled in 2006 and Dr Mahathir has since retracted his claims. AGENCIES