KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 ― Lim Guan Eng clarified today that DAP members did attend training courses with the International Republican Institute (IRI).
But the DAP secretary-general insisted that this did not mean there was a link between the secular party to any US political parties or even the US president, following concerns of foreign interference in local politics.
Lim said although he had not attended such courses, he was informed of party members being trained on technical issues under the auspices of understanding democratic processes related to polling and communications by the organisation.
“The IRI has also stated publicly that such courses have been conducted for both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan component parties.”
“However DAP has no contact with the United States Republican Party or US President Donald Trump,” he said in a statement today.
IRI president Daniel Twining reportedly spoke of the institute's close relationship with Pakatan Harapan leaders during a speech in Washington recently.
In a statement issued earlier, IRI also denied working with Pakatan Harapan to undermine the BN government prior to GE14.
The Bagan MP said however contact with a think-tank was different from having direct contact with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or political parties such as the Communist Party of China.
“Open communication should always be encouraged to promote understanding based on clear principles.”
“Having direct contact with the CIA explicitly seeking aid for foreign intervention to sabotage the people's mandate in the recent general elections is not only untenable and unacceptable, but a betrayal of our country's sovereignty,” he said in reference to the recent leaked letter penned by former Malaysian External Intelligence Organisation (MEIO) director-general Datuk Hasanah Abdul Hamid to the CIA.
