Think tank: BN receives American funding, too

A think tank said the BN should not be “paranoid” about NGOs receiving foreign funding, as the ruling coalition also does likewise and receives American support.

“Barisan Nasional MPs should not be so paranoid about the incoming of foreign funds to support NGOs in Malaysia,” said Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan in an email to Malaysiakini.

“After all, Barisan Nasional parties also receive American support, with the latest one being just last weekend at a luxurious hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

“This is not new because, in fact, Barisan Nasional leaders have been receiving foreign support too for many years,” he alleged.

Wan Saiful (left) was responding to BN parliamentarians such as Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) and Abdul Rahman Dahlan (BN-Kota Belud) who in Parliament yesterday claimed that foreign funders were seeking to undermine the government.

Government agencies and pro-government groups with the BN-controlled mainstream media in tow, have been on a campaignattacking human rights NGO Suaram for receiving foreign funds.

In particular, they have attempted to paint the Scorpenes scandal inquiry in France as one such attempt to put the government in bad light.

News portal Malaysiakini has also not been spared, and has been accused of being a tool of foreign funders to publish “anti-government” news.

[More to follow]