Zairil said the current attempts to “victimise” parties critical of the government, which had purportedly received funding from American billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF), has fuelled “moral panicking” among the masses.
Moral panicking refers to a feeling of fear spread among a large number of people that some evil threatens the well-being of society.
“Civil societies play an important role in a democratic society. We should allow them to thrive, or else we would be tilting towards authoritarianism.
“We question the motive behind these allegations, particularly the targeting of various organisations and bodies which are known to be independent and critical of the ruling regime,” Zairil said in a press conference in Fettes Park today.
The Penang Institute (PI), a think tank led by Zairil was one of the bodies alleged to have received funds from Soros’s OSF.
Zairil, who is also Bukit Bendera MP, said he was considering legal action against those who continued attacking PI, despite the body having denied receiving the funding.
According to Zairil, the funding for PI came from the state government and was checked and audited every year.
“We would like to state categorically that Penang Institute has neither received nor applied for any funds from OSF.
“Neither have any of our staff received the Central European University fellowship as alleged by the document (in DC Leaks). In other words, Penang Institute has no links whatsoever to these organisations,” Zairil said.
On a different note, Zairil said a ban on foreign funding for civil societies and NGOs would not bode well for the country in the long run.
He said many NGOs had relied on cooperation from foreign outfits, such as the United Nations, the World Bank as well as universities, and that stifling foreign funding would impede the progress of NGOs.
Zairil also welcomed the formation of a Charity Commission similar to that in England, mooted by the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) earlier today.
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