DAP has completely no contact with IRI, says Guan Eng

The DAP has no links to the International Republican Institute (IRI) or the US Republican Party, secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said today.

“The (US) Republican party is not a friend of the DAP so they will definitely have no connections with us.

“We have been very critical of the Republican party, especially leaders like (US President) Donald Trump.

“This is something new to me, (we have) completely no contact (with IRI) whatsoever,” he said when asked during a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

Last month, IRI told a forum that it had been attempting to "strengthen" Malaysian opposition parties for as long as since 2002. 

While the group did not take credit for the fall of the BN government in the 14th general election, it did say that a Pakatan Harapan-led government was beneficial for Washington.

PKR leaders have admitted that Harapan politicians previously attended IRI leadership training but denied that the sessions involved concerted efforts to topple BN. 

Gerakan politicians had also attended such training, according to PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar.

The IRI is affiliated with the Republican Party in the US, and its board was until two days ago chaired by Senator John McCain.

It was founded as one of the four pro-democracy groups funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, which is in turn, funded by the US Congress.

In recent years, the IRI has been accused of training opposition and coup leaders in countries such as Honduras, Haiti, Cuba, Egypt and Tunisia. - Mkini