Bersih: We got funds only once

(The Star) – The Bersih movement had received funds from the George Soros-linked Open Society Foundation only once, which was for an electoral delineation project last year, said Bersih chairman Datuk S. Ambiga.

The group is now “fully supported” by Malaysians, she told a press conference here yesterday.

Present were representatives from five other non-governmental groups the Centre for Independent Journalism, Lawyers for Liberty, Merdeka Centre, Southeast Centre for E-Media and Suaram.

Ambiga said the Open Society promoted democracy and there was “nothing wrong” receiving funds from it.

“All these about him being responsible for the (1997/98 Asian economy) collapse should be looked at again,” she said, in an apparent reference to a report in an English newspaper that blamed Soros for wrecking the Malaysian economy in 1997/98 through currency speculation.

Ambiga said there were many sides to the story, with some saying that locals not Soros were responsible for it.

Ambiga said another English daily had written a “one-sided and irresponsible” report that two global funders and nine organisations were part of a “plot to destabilise the Government”. She has demanded an apology from the paper within 48 hours.

In a statement released at the end of the press conference, Bersih and the other groups claimed that the report in the daily was a crude attack on civil society in Malaysia.