No award for Malaysian PM’s wife, US-based NGO says
Malaysia's First Couple, Prime Minister Najib Razak and wife Rosmah Mansor. Pic: AP.
THE flamboyant wife of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been removed from the list of “Lead by example” honorary award recipients in what appears to be an embarrassing slip up by government officials and the country’s state-owned news agency.
It was earlier reported that Rosmah Mansor, 64, was slated to receive the award by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in conjunction with the 71st United Nations General Assembly.
The announcement of the award came barely a week after Rosmah’s extravagant shopping habits was spotlighted again in the media, earning her widespread criticism.
Rosmah’s Unesco Moment: Sorry, it’s not true.weehingthong.org/2016/09/19/ros… twitter.com/HRDipendra/sta…
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently claimed to have obtained documents showing Rosmah as racking up some US$6 million in credit card charges between 2008 and 2015 to purchase expensive clothes, shoes and jewellery from London’s Harrods department store, Saks Fifth Avenue of New York, among other places.
The Washington-based Antiquities Coalition (AC), a non-governmental organization working to stop the looting and trafficking of antiquities — and which hands out the award — clarified Monday that the accolade and the event was not sanctioned by Unesco.
Andy Beck, a spokesperson from The Antiquities Coalition said reports that Rosmah was due to receive the award, at the “A Tribute to Heroes in the Global Campaign Against Violent Extremism” event on Sept 22 at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New York, was erroneous.
On Saturday, Malaysian national news agency Bernama carried a news report saying Rosmah was to be conferred the award in recognition of her efforts in developing the potential of children, especially through the Permata programme which she developed, and in which she is a patron.
According to MalaysiaKini, Beck, who issued the clarification to the media on Monday also shared a statement from Professor Tudor Parfitt, a British scholar, and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and chair of the international academic advisory panel for the event.
“The committee recommended that Permata programmes receive recognition as they were seen to represent a model for potential imitation in other countries with diverse populations.
“The programme, which was founded in 2007 under the auspices of Rosmah Mansor, has already received recognition for its efforts to help deprived young people find employment and develop their potential,” Parfitt was quoted as saying.
Due to the leaks of the committee’s recommendations, Parfitt said several news outlets contacted the organisation to questioned the sources of funding for Permata.
As academics, Parfitt said, the organisation had no immediate means of verifying funding for Permata, and was not aware of any specific wrongdoing.
“However, we do not wish this important event to be dominated by anything other than the issue of how to mobilise and unite people in the fight against violent extremism,” he said.
“The committee therefore decided it requires more time to review the comments that have been received, and has removed Permata from the list of Thursday’s honourees.”
In a press statement on Saturday, Education Ministry secretary-general Alias Ahmad claimed the prestigious award was an initiative by Unesco and six outstanding women in the world who are involved in education, human rights, empowerment of women and advocates of global citizenship.
Anti-government dissidents in Malaysia have been campaigning long and hard against Najib, who they believe is corruptly involved in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal. One of them is pro-democracy group Bersih 2.0, also known as the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, which isplanning to hold a mass rally in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 19 to demand Najib’s resignation.
In July, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit seeking the seizure of more than US$1 billion in assets allegedly bought with money siphoned from 1MDB.
The lawsuit only named “Malaysian Official 1” and did not directly mention Najib but the prime minister’s critics believe it refers to him. Abdul Rahman Dahlan, a key leader in Najib’s ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, recently told a BBC interview that “MO1” refers to Najib.
