Malay groups clam up on Najib-Soros meeting

Several leaders of pro-government Malay pressure groups have refused to comment on the report that Prime Minister Najib Razak had met with billionaire George Soros in 2010.

“I don’t want to comment because I have not read the blog. But in general, all the facts that come from the blogs say that Soros is not friendly to us, but friendly with the opposition,” said Malay Consultative Council (MPM) member Shahbudin Embun.

“That’s all I want to comment. You can go ahead and sleep with Soros,” he said sarcastically when met byMalaysiakini at a press conference today.

Other groups attending the press conference reacted similarly, including the Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia (PPIM), Perkasa as well as the Young Journalists Club Malaysia.

When asked they chorused that they have not read the said report.

Last week Subang parliamentarian R Sivarasa during his debate with Perkasa information chief Ruslan Kassim revealed that the PM met with Soros at a the luxury Plaza Hotel in Manhattan on Sept 27, 2010. 

Meanwhile during the press conference over the Suaram issue, Shahbudin said, “We as a NGO will defend this country, Najib, and the democratic institution where the king is the head according to our constitution.

“We don’t want interference from any party,” he said.

BN and the pro-government mainstream media and pressure groups have been using Soros as a bogeyman to demonise the human rights NGO Suaramfor pursuing the Scorpene inquiry in France.

Also dragged into the Soros conspiracy theories were news portalMalaysiakini as well as Pakatan Rakyat.

While the pressure groups have been vocal on foreign funders allegedly trying to bring down the government through Suaram and the opposition, they have been largely silent on the inconvenient revelations made in the course of the Scorpene inquiry.

For example, French prosecution papers have revealed evidence that Najib had allegedly asked for US$1 billion (RM3 billion) for Perimekar as a condition for a meeting with him on July 14, 2001.

[More to follow]