My Thought About the Future Foundation Issue

The Ethics Committee of the World Bank already released documents illustrate the following:

1. An attempt was made by the Bank, PW, and SR to follow due process in resolving the conflict of interest at the Bank. Whether they succeeded in that attempt is the crux of the matter and is addressed in the more recent statement by the Bank and PW.

2. That Riza's raise and external assignment to the State Department were the result of deliberations that took place within the World Bank during the Summer of 2005 and that were finalized in September 2005. Neither Anwar Ibrahim personally nor the Foundation for the Future as an organization (which did not even exist at that point) had anything to do with either her raise or external assignment to the State Department.

3. That the Foundation for the Future did nothing inappropriate. The Foundation did not exist in September 2005. It was an idea that existed on paper and could not have been party to any negotiations of any sort. Once the Foundation was a real institution it was in a position to hire staff and to formally assign Riza to the Foundation and dissolve her association with the State Department which was clearly no longer necessary. Anwar Ibrahim's October 2006 letter as Chairman of the Foundation to the Bank reaffirms SR's mandate to work to build and develop the Foundation (which was the focus of her assignment to the State Department as described in a september 2005 letter between the State Dept. and the World Bank). The letter makes no mention of SR's salary other than to refer to the existing arrangement that had already been made with the State Department.

If people took the time to learn the facts instead of being manipulated by innuendo and conspiracy theories then they would see this smear campaign against the Foundation and Anwar Ibrahim is just a political maneuver being staged to marginalize and discredit the only political force in Malaysia that has a chance to change the system.

While the Malaysian Minister is busy trying to dig up a scandal on Anwar Ibrahim where none exists (Anwar does not even receive a salary as Chairman of the Board of the Foundation) the Malaysian government is descending deeper into an abyss of corruption and decadence.

Talk about baiting and switching the Malaysian public.