Kelab Putra 1Malaysia, whose aid mission to Somalia saw the death of a press cameraperson, yesterday extended an invitation to their 'detractors' to join them in their next mission to the war-torn country.
In an interview on BernamaTV's Helo Malaysia programme, its president Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (right) said it is willing to foot the bill for the lot, including news portal Malaysiakini, The Malaysian Insiderand opposition politicians.
"I want to invite (DAP parliamentary leader) Lim Kit Siang, (PKR de facto leader) Anwar (Ibrahim), (PAS deputy president) Mohamad Sabu, all the (opposition leaders), the Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini...free of charge.
"I want the Malaysian Insider andMalaysiakini to see for themselves (the conditions there).
"All who like to slam me...I am pleading with you, let's go. You analyse, don't have do any work. Just watch us do our work and write what you see," he said.
He added that those who condemn the NGO's good work are actually "under pressure" because of the group's exemplary track record and achievement of key performance indicators (KPI).
"If we wanted to get shot (at) we would have in Egypt when we went to rescue the Malaysian students (during the revolution).
"(In Somalia) we hit all our KPIs but (the shooting) happened on the last day, because people who were supposed to protect us played around with their guns, at the doorstep of our lodging," he said.
'Media raced to join us'
Azeez, who had previously refused interviews due to the 'trauma' of the fatal shooting of BernamaTV's Noramfaizul Mohd Nor, 39, said he had never forced any of the media to join the dangerous mission.
"I sent letters to all media, and some, including Star andNST, decided not to send anyone, and that's fine.
"But because the story is worth so much, many (others) were racing each other to go," he said.
He revealed that 74 media personnel had arrived at the airport on the day of departure but the military aircraft could only take 48, and so many "cried because they had to go home".
In the end, he said, he took on the mission a "small" media team of 18, some of whom he had made room for "in the name of friendship".
The impassioned Umno supreme council member also vehemently denied that he had taken the media along on the mission as a publicity stunt for the party, which he said has nothing to do with Kelab Putera 1Malaysia which is an NGO.
"Don't even mention the name of the keramat(sacred) party Umno. It had nothing to do with it other than to support us," said Azeez, who heads Umno's Putera wing.
On the necessity for the NGO to head to the conflict zone itself, Azeez said that previous experience taught him that much of the aid sent to locally-based NGOs do not reach the beneficiaries.
"There is no one to micro-manage the distribution," he said.
Among the aid groups in Somalia are international NGO Medicines Sans Frontiers and Malaysian NGOs Mercy Malaysia and Islamic Relief Malaysia.
While Mercy Malaysia has been working in Somalia for the past 17 years, Islamic Relief Malaysia had provided seasonal aid to the drought-stricken country for 10 years, after which it decided to set up a permanent centre there to provide longer-term solutions.
Yesterday, the United Nations declared that famine has spread to more than six areas in the country, which has suffered under decades of civil war and unrest.
It warned that 750,000 people could die if relief efforts are not scaled up.
In an interview on BernamaTV's Helo Malaysia programme, its president Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (right) said it is willing to foot the bill for the lot, including news portal Malaysiakini, The Malaysian Insiderand opposition politicians."I want to invite (DAP parliamentary leader) Lim Kit Siang, (PKR de facto leader) Anwar (Ibrahim), (PAS deputy president) Mohamad Sabu, all the (opposition leaders), the Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini...free of charge.
"I want the Malaysian Insider andMalaysiakini to see for themselves (the conditions there).
"All who like to slam me...I am pleading with you, let's go. You analyse, don't have do any work. Just watch us do our work and write what you see," he said.
He added that those who condemn the NGO's good work are actually "under pressure" because of the group's exemplary track record and achievement of key performance indicators (KPI).
"If we wanted to get shot (at) we would have in Egypt when we went to rescue the Malaysian students (during the revolution)."(In Somalia) we hit all our KPIs but (the shooting) happened on the last day, because people who were supposed to protect us played around with their guns, at the doorstep of our lodging," he said.
'Media raced to join us'
Azeez, who had previously refused interviews due to the 'trauma' of the fatal shooting of BernamaTV's Noramfaizul Mohd Nor, 39, said he had never forced any of the media to join the dangerous mission.
"I sent letters to all media, and some, including Star andNST, decided not to send anyone, and that's fine."But because the story is worth so much, many (others) were racing each other to go," he said.
He revealed that 74 media personnel had arrived at the airport on the day of departure but the military aircraft could only take 48, and so many "cried because they had to go home".
In the end, he said, he took on the mission a "small" media team of 18, some of whom he had made room for "in the name of friendship".
The impassioned Umno supreme council member also vehemently denied that he had taken the media along on the mission as a publicity stunt for the party, which he said has nothing to do with Kelab Putera 1Malaysia which is an NGO.
"Don't even mention the name of the keramat(sacred) party Umno. It had nothing to do with it other than to support us," said Azeez, who heads Umno's Putera wing.On the necessity for the NGO to head to the conflict zone itself, Azeez said that previous experience taught him that much of the aid sent to locally-based NGOs do not reach the beneficiaries.
"There is no one to micro-manage the distribution," he said.
Among the aid groups in Somalia are international NGO Medicines Sans Frontiers and Malaysian NGOs Mercy Malaysia and Islamic Relief Malaysia.
While Mercy Malaysia has been working in Somalia for the past 17 years, Islamic Relief Malaysia had provided seasonal aid to the drought-stricken country for 10 years, after which it decided to set up a permanent centre there to provide longer-term solutions.
Yesterday, the United Nations declared that famine has spread to more than six areas in the country, which has suffered under decades of civil war and unrest.
It warned that 750,000 people could die if relief efforts are not scaled up.
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