Anwar: APCO row over accountability, not 1 Malaysia

Anwar accused the Najib administration of haphazard public spending in hiring APCO. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim hit back today at the Najib administration over the APCO affair, saying the main issue was about accountability and due process in hiring the publicity strategist and not 1 Malaysia.

The opposition leader has been suspended for six months from Parliament for linking Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia campaign to the One Israel concept via APCO Worldwide. The prime minister has denied the link, saying 1 Malaysia is his own creation.

The PKR de facto leader said APCO’s involvement in the Najib administration was “clearest proof of Umno/Barisan Nasional’s hypocrisy”, and accused the latter of hiring a company that was “known for its strong link with the Israeli intelligence and political establishment” for communication work

“Therefore, the bulk of my contention when I first raised this issue in Dewan Rakyat was directed at the prime minister’s hypocrisy and carelessness in hiring a firm with a track record such as APCO’s,” Anwar said in a statement released this morning.

He added that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs were entitled to ask the government to reveal “the extent of APCO’s involvement in the formulation of policies and messaging under the current prime minister”.

The Permatang Pauh MP also claimed there were “numerous records available publicly to substantiate APCO’s unhealthy track record of working for regimes with penchant for stifling human rights and democratic space” and referred to articles written by Batu MP Chua Tian Chang.

Najib has said 1 Malaysia was his idea.

“Thus, the issue was never about the simplistic question of who came up with 1 Malaysia. It is about holding the government of the day accountable for its haphazard behaviour in spending the public money (to the tune of RM77 million for one year’s service) to hire a firm for its own image building.

“More importantly, it is about the lack of responsibility of a prime minister in ignoring APCO’s track record and potential security risks posed by the latter,” he added.

Anwar has attacked Umno and BN for not engaging PR on the issues, and charged the ruling coalition with going “on an overkill drive from the beginning which culminated in the suspension of four members of Dewan Rakyat recently.

“It trampled on every known ethics and norms including the natural process of allowing an accused to present and argue his case before a fair and just panel,” he said, referring to the rights panel decision to deny his right to be heard.

“In the end, UMNO/Barisan Nasional created another first in the history of Dewan Rakyat when it orchestrated our suspension without a debate and based on a simple letter of denial from APCO,” he added.

Anwar also mocked BN’s assertion that APCO’s letter of denial and a statement from political strategist Robert M. Shrum was proof the public relations consultancy “was not involved in the conceptualisation of 1 Malaysia; neither was 1 Malaysia adopted from One Israel campaign.

“Going by the same UMNO/Barisan Nasional’s logic, a statutory declaration made by P. Balasubramaniam on his allegation of the prime minister’s relationship with Altantuya Sharibu would have been taken as an undisputable proof.

“Likewise, the two contracts signed by APCO with the governments of Malaysia and Israel respectively that are in my possession would have to be taken as an undisputable proof of a link between the 1 Malaysia campaign with other campaigns that APCO or its personnel had worked on previously,” he said.

Anwar said the release of the two documents from APCO and Shrum was “nothing more than an orchestrated media play that ensures no scrutiny of the ‘evidence’ it claims to have”.

“In the end, the country must go back to the fundamental questions that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is so keen to avoid,” he said, alluding to The Malaysian Insider’sreport on July 28, 2009 which he said has never been denied.

The report said APCO previously had an official based in Najib’s office and they had helped craft his 100 days strategy — including his 1 Malaysia message and other key platforms of his administration.

“If this is indeed true, the prime minister must then be prepared to explain the other fundamental issue — his trigger happy attitude in using taxpayers’ money to hire a firm for the sole good of his party; especially one with such a questionable track record that could have compromised the country’s security,” Anwar said. - Malaysian Insider