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Malaysian NGOs demand Palestinian envoy apologise over missing donations claim

Yesterday, Walid claimed during his visit to the News Straits Times Press (NSTP) that the Al-Aqsa Mosque has not received millions of ringgit that Malaysians donated for its upkeep. — AFP pic
Yesterday, Walid claimed during his visit to the News Straits Times Press (NSTP) that the Al-Aqsa Mosque has not received millions of ringgit that Malaysians donated for its upkeep. — AFP pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 — A group of Malaysian non-government organisations (NGOs) told Palestine ambassador to Malaysia Walid Abu Ali today to apologise for alleging that millions of ringgit in local donations to the Al-Aqsa Mosque did not reach the recipient.

Muslim Care Malaysia and nine other groups insisted the donations have been sent to Palestine and documented there as well as locally.

“His (Walid) statement has wrecked not only Malaysian NGOs’ image and reputation, but also Malaysian government and its people as a whole. The excessive allegation should be provided with evidence and not announced publicly.

“The evidence of donations and its implementation can be accessed in those NGOs annual reports, with statistics, photographs and videos as well as local and international media reports. The NGOs even brought local media representatives to witness how the donations were given.

“In this regard, we ask the Palestinian ambassador to Malaysia to retract his statement and allegations and apologise publicly if he fails to prove his wild allegations,” he said in a statement.

Other signatories of the statement were Viva Palestina Malaysia, ABIM, Global Peace Mission, MyCARE, HALUAN Malaysia, MAPIM, MEDICOM, CAKNA Palestine and MAHAR.

Yesterday, Walid claimed during his visit to the News Straits Times Press (NSTP) that the Al-Aqsa Mosque has not received millions of ringgit that Malaysians donated for its upkeep.

He then urged Malaysians to be wary of those still soliciting donations for the mosque, given that previous contributions were now missing.

Malaysian NGOs also pointed out the donations were handled by the Waqf Department jointly managed by the Jordanian government.

They said Malaysian NGOs have been sending aid to Palestine in the form of funds, food, medicine, education, infrastructure and more over the last 17 years without issue.

“The donations managed by Malaysian NGOs are not only received from Malaysians, but also from the Malaysian government. This clearly reflects the trust of the Malaysian government towards Malaysian NGOs.

“All these contributions have been personally acknowledged by Palestinians including several government departments, including the Ministry of Health, Municipal Councils, Ministry of Education and universities, especially in Gaza.

“Contributions from Malaysians for the well-being of Aqsa Mosque were also channelled by Malaysian NGOs directly to Palestinians around the mosque, especially during Ramadan,” they said.

Separately, Aman Palestine Malaysia chief executive officer Awang Suffian Awang Piut said the aid was sent without the involvement of the Palestinian embassy due to the political instability there.

In a press conference today, he maintained that most of the donations have reached the Palestinians and several development projects have been completed including the Imam Syafie Mosque, several smaller mosques and schools for early education.

“We need to look at the Palestinian political position. Palestine is divided into Hamas and Fatah.

“Most Malaysians support the struggle under Hamas as they are closer to the Palestinian liberation struggle while Fatah is under the control of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization).

“PLO, internationally, is recognised by the UN (United Nations). So most of the aid given to the PLO will go to Fatah while most of the donations from NGOs will be channeled directly to the people,” he was quoted as saying by Astro Awani.

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