By Adib Zalkapli- The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today maintained that APCO Worldwide had served the Ehud Barak administration in 1999 and said that he will give an explanation to the Speaker of Parliament as soon as possible.
“I will give my explanation, and my explanation will be based on the prime minister’s response on March 18,” said Anwar, referring to Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s written reply to Parliament admitting that “APCO Worldwide Sdn Bhd was appointed to provide total communication services.”
Earlier today, Anwar was asked by the House to explain his allegation last week that 1 Malaysia is a carbon copy of the 1 Israel initiative and was drawn up by APCO.
The public relations consultant had dismissed the allegations, resulting in the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) move to refer Anwar to the Rights and Privileges Committee.
“I will explain, because APCO was indeed in Israel at that point of time,” Anwar told reporters.
“Naturally they are paid to deny, but let me give the facts,” said Anwar when pointed out that APCO had dismissed his allegations.
“But I will also demand for an explanation as to who is APCO, how much are they paid and what is the role played by APCO in communication, and what is their advice to the various ministries, especially the strategic ministries,” he added.
Anwar said that he had to raise the issue of APCO’s involvement because he had been accused of being a Jewish agent.
“I raised the APCO issue not because they are Jewish, but I have been accused of being a Jewish agent for 12 years, with no evidence provided,” said Anwar.
He also pointed out that the government had also previously engaged disgraced American lobbyist Jack Abramoff to improve ties with Washington.
No comments:
Post a Comment