Suaram funded by US, Finland, Canada

(Bernama) – Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) director Kua Kia Soong on Tuesday revealed that the non-governmental organisation has been receiving funds from foreign countries and individuals nationwide.

He said the human rights group was being funded by countries, namely the United States, Finland and Canada, as well as some Malaysian state governments and individual donations.

Kua, however, kept a close guard on the funding issue and the amount Suaram had so far received from funders and primary sponsors.

“Do I really need to tell you where our funds come from? Why does everyone want to know where our funds come from?” he asked at the unvealing of the Malaysia Human Rights Report 2011 here.

He also questioned a local Malay daily reporter whether he knew the daily’s source of funding.

Kua urged any party dissatisfied with the NGO to lodge a police report.

In July, Suaram and its role as an independent NGO was questioned for being a recipient of annual allocations consistently from the US-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) since 2006.

According to the AIDC portal, as stated in NED’s annual report, Suaram had received a total amount of US$385,000 (RM1,218,328.65) for 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Besides Suaram, other Malaysia-based NGOs being funded as listed by the NED include the International Republican Institute, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, Southeast Asian Press Alliance, Centre for Independent Journalism, Open Dialogue Centre and Mkini Dot Com.

It had been widely reported that Suaram was not even registered as an NGO with the Registrar of Societies, instead it was registered as a company under the name of Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd with RM2 paid-up capital.

Since then, Suaram has remained tight-lipped over allegations concerning its NGO status, and its source of funding.