Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said civil society organisations should not be concerned over police investigation over their funding if they have nothing to hide.
He also rubbished Lawyers for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen’s claim that the probe on foreign funding recieved by NGOs is part of a “post-Umno annual general meeting witch-hunt”.
Several NGO leaders have been called for questioning as part of police investigations into Bersih for alleged funding from American billionaire George Soros-linked Open Society Foundations.
Nur Jazlan said the investigation on Bersih and its chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah started before the Umno general assembly last week.
“The investigation was about the foreign funding, and now police are investigaing other NGOs for receiving foreign funds.
“The timing of the Bersih rally and Umno meeting were unfortunate – they happened during investigation period – but some people are politicising it,” he told Malaysiakini in text message.
“Have they got something to hide in the way they are funded? If not, why worry? The courts will decide in the end if there is any wrongdoing,” he said.
He reiterated the country subscribed to the principle of “innocent until proven guilty”.
UMNO appear not to care how ridiculous they look hurling accusations at others for things they themselves are plainly culpable.
It is UMNO who are hiding the identity of their donor, whom they claim is a “Sheikh”, but whom they refuse to name.
If NGOs must reveal the names of their donors, why not UMNO?
In UMNO’s case it is because the party is lying and the money is actually stolen from the Malaysian people and from pension funds and it has been spent not on good works pursuing democratic principles, but on handbags, bribes and anti-aging treatments.
Nur Jaslan knows this perfectly well and it is why he was booted ‘upstairs’ out of the Public Accounts Committee. Sadly, everyone is now wondering what was his price and why he now seems to care little for the future of his country by helping drag it down to a moronic dictatorship under Najib?
The likes of Nur Jaslan should take matters in hand and boot out the thief (and more) who accuses everyone else of his own crimes.