Red Shirts leader Jamal Md Yunos said today he was happy with Malaysiakini’s explanation on the alleged funding by Open Society Foundations (OSF), an organisation linked to Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros.
He said this after paying a visit to Malaysiakini’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya, demanding an explanation on claims that the online news portal had received funding from the Soros-linked foundation.
About 100 people wearing red T-Shirts had gathered outside the news portal’s office. Jamal and 10 Red Shirts members later went into the office at 2.30pm to meet Malaysiakini’s representatives.
Speaking to reporters outside Malaysiakini’s headquarters, Jamal stated that all he wanted was an explanation on the alleged funding.
“We didn’t come here to cause trouble. We didn’t bring 10,000 people here.
“All we wanted was an explanation. I thank Malaysiakini for welcoming us in and for their explanation.
“I am satisfied with their explanation.”
It was previously reported that whistleblower site DC Leaks had leaked documents stating that Bersih, Malaysiakini and Merdeka Center were allegedly funded by OSF’s “Malaysia Program”.
The document said Malaysiakini’s video arm KiniTV had received funding under the programme.
Malaysiakini then said the grant was used to produce the “Realiti Sarawak” and “Sekilas Bumi Kenyalang” programmes and that it only constituted a small portion of its revenue.
Meanwhile, on a separate matter, Jamal vowed that the Red Shirts would abide by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s call not to have any rally or assembly.
He said, however, the Red Shirts would not hesitate to break that pledge if Bersih 2.0 decides to continue with its planned rally
Bersih 5 is being planned at Dataran Merdeka on Nov 19.
Yesterday, Zahid said the government would not grant permission for any gathering, whether for Bersih or the Red Shirts, at Dataran Merdeka.
Prior to the discussion, Jamal had vowed to protest outside the Malaysiakini headquarters on Nov 5 if no explanation was given.
“If no explanation is given, we NGOs from across the country will hold a mega protest here of at least 20,000 people.
“We will make sure part of this building will runtuh (collapse),” he had said, although he did not explain how it will be torn down.
When asked if he still intended to proceed with the gathering on Saturday, Jamal said he would see “how it goes”.
Source -FMT-
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