PETALING JAYA: UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said the RM2.6 billion donation issue involving the Prime Minister has been resolved following the statement issued by the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister yesterday.
Khairy, who is also Youth and Sports Minister said, the statement by Adel Al-Jubeir, who confirmed the donation to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak came from his country should stop the spreading of untrue stories regarding the issue.
“The Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister has confirmed that the donation is a contribution that does not expect anything in return. So it is valid and the issue is settled,” he told reporters after launching the six-month Book Review programme, here today.
Khairy said UMNO Youth would take a pro-active stance in explaining the matter to the people based on facts, so that they would not continue to be influenced by the opposition’s propaganda.
Yesterday, Adel, when approached by reporters after attending a bilateral meeting with Najib on the sidelines of the 13th Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul confirmed the donation to the Prime Minister was from Saudi Arabia.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali had, on Jan 26, cleared Najib of any wrongdoing in relation to investigations into SRC International Sdn Bhd and the RM2.6 billion alleged to have been deposited into Najib’s personal bank account.
Meanwhile, Khairy said the ministry would draw up a programme, namely ‘Read Malaysia’, as proposed by the Federation of Peninsular Malay Students (GPMS) to encourage the Malaysian youth to read.
“This is an exciting programme. We will hold discussions with the National Library and the Education Ministry to determine its contents,” he said.
He said the ministry was targeting to launch the programme, given that youths today were more likely to read a posting on social networking sites than reading a book.
“Reading a posting on fb (facebook), tweeter does not count. Sometimes, information shared on social media is not from authentic sources. As such, the book reading culture among youths should be revived,” he said.
The Book Review programme, organised by GPMS, in collaboration with Borders (M) and the Kampung Buku Malaysia Foundation would be held on the third week of every month beginning Feb 14 at Borders, The Curve, Damansara. -- BERNAMA