Foreign funding: Red Shirt movement wants Malaysiakini closed

A group of 100 Red Shirt Movement members led by Datuk Jamal Md Yunus on Thursday demanded for the Malaysiakini news portal to be closed due to allegations that it is financed by George Soros.

The group which arrived at the Malaysiakini headquarters in Jalan Tandang here at around 3pm Thursday, also requested the portal to clarify the matter by midnight today.

"It is not the amount of money that we are worry about, but we are questioning the extent of their (Malaysiakini) relationship with the currency speculator (Soros).

"We demand for the government to close this media company because they are clearly masterminded by foreign power," said Jamal to reporters after meeting the company's top management.

He also said he will bring some 20,000 supporters on Saturday to hold a demonstration in front of the Malaysiakini office.

Earlier, some 10 members of the Red Shirt Movement met the top management of Malaysiakini comprising its chief editor Steven Gan, editor RK Anand and Malay language editor Jimadie Shah Othman.

During the half-an-hour meeting, Malaysiakini represented by Jimadie admitted to receiving the funding from Soros but not in a big amount.

A report about the funding was published by Malaysiakini in its portal early this week.