INTELLECTUAL AS EVER, Anuar Shaari: Was the IPOH Scorpenes forum organized by SOROS?

KUALA LUMPUR - A FORMER private secretary to opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has questioned the credibility of an "anti-Scorpene" forum which he claimed was funded by currency speculator George Soros.

Anuar Shaari also asked whether the forum was funded by the controversial business magnate to unduly question the purchase of two French-made Scorpene submarines by the Malaysian government.

"Was the so-called forum organised by Soros? That's the question I would like to pose to its organisers," Anuar said in a statement yesterday.

"Did the stooges involved in the staging of the forum receive a hefty sum of money for their work?," he asked.

Soros wants M'sia to buy subs from Jews instead of the French

The forum, dubbed Scorpene Submarine Scandal: The Great Malaysian Robbery, was held on Sept 30 at Excelsior Hotel, Ipoh and was attended by Suara Rakyat Malaysia chief director Cynthia Gabriel.

It was reported that Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Tian Chua and PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail were also present during the one-day event.

Anuar claimed the forum was hosted solely for the purpose of providing disparaging "evidence" of the submarine purchase by the Malaysian government in 2002.

"I was told that the speakers merely lashed out by saying that the submarines purchased were overpriced and suffered from operational problems.

"They deliberately gave an impression to the audience that the French defence industry had duped the Malaysian government of the day into purchasing these faulty machines."

He also quipped: "Perhaps these speakers, who are merely stooges, want Malaysia to buy submarines from Soros' Jewish business partners instead."

NST