Bersih Has Never Taken Soros’ Money?

In a Sinar Harian (SH) article, “Bersih terus berjuang demi rakyat”, SH’s reporter Siti Nursyahidah Abu Bakar interviewed Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah and her deputy, Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari regarding Bersih 5.

The reporter’s statement and question, and Maria Chin and Shahrul Aman’s answers under the subject, “Fitnah kitar semula” caught my eyes:

Fitnah kitar semula

Menjelang 19 November, timbul lagi cerita buruk kononnya Bersih mendapat dana daripada jutawan Amerika Syarikat, George Soros. Anda rasa ini sengaja dimainkan untuk menghalang rakyat sertai Bersih 5? – Sinar Harian.

From her statement and how she asked her question, it seems that the reporter is trying to say that it is a lie that Bersih did receive funding from George Soros, calling it a recycled slander; how interesting.

Shahrul answered:

Jika kita lihat rentetan fitnah terhadap Bersih, ia hampir sama seperti himpunan lalu. Malah, fitnah dimainkan juga sering dikitar semula termasuk isu dana Soros. Sedangkan isu ini sudah tutup dan pada 2013, sebuah akhbar telah meminta maaf kepada Bersih.

By using the apology made by a newspaper to Bersih in 2013 to prove his case, Shahrul claimed that the Soros issue was a recycled slander.

And in this article, Maria Chin also denied receiving money from George Soros:

Mengenai tuduhan dapat dana daripada Soros, tunjukkan bukti dalam akaun kami. Apa yang kita buat pada 2014, kita dapat derma RM2.6 juta daripada orang awam.

But the same Maria Chin Abdullah had admitted taking money from NDI and OSI.

Credit to AIDC

And this is what Ambiga has to say about NDI and OSI:

Credit to Free Malaysia Today, who quoted The Malaysian Insider.

Now, how can Maria Chin deny receiving funds from George Soros when both she and Ambiga confessed that they had received money from both National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Open Society Institute (OSI) which is now known as Open Society Foundation, an organisation established by George Soros?

Maria Chin and Shahrul Aman can use Sinar Harian to lie about Soros to Bersih’s supporters but they cannot cheat those who are clever enough to read and do some research about their activities.

In the case of a newspaper apologising to Bersih as mentioned by Shahrul, NST made the mistake by saying that Bersih was funded by National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and OSI instead of NDI and OSI as admitted by both Ambiga and Maria Chin.

So, NST made no mistake about saying that Bersih had received money from George Soros’s OSI, it is Shahrul who twisted the facts and tried to use this case to lie to everybody about Soros’s fund to Bersih.

It is technically true that Bersih 2.0 was not directly funded by NED, but by receiving money from NDI, they are indirectly taking NED’s money because NDI is also funded by NED for this project.

Please click the photo for larger image. From NDI’s official website. Credit to Karim’s Blog (akarimomar.wordpress.com).

Instead of lying, Bersih 2.0 must admit that they did receive funding from the US organisations.

Stop lying and spinning stories because if Bersih thinks that it is doing the right thing, it has nothing to hide and lie about.

Even the Russia Today wrote that Soros’s OSI funded Bersih and how the United States assisted the Malaysian opposition during the previous General Election.