There are many inaccuracies in Khairy Jamaluddin's statement and the Malaysiakini report about the Government Accountability Project (GAP) report on the Foundation for the Future (FFF), an organization that Anwar Ibrahim once headed.

The report says that GAP had claimed that FFF's management ‘misled’ the IRS by claiming in its 2006-2007 financial statement that it did not influence the US Congress.

Incorrect. The report says that they ‘may have’ misled. The report does not know whether it is true. Your report also says that the GAP report claims that US State Department documents ‘showed’ that FFF had actively lobbied the US Congress for government funding.

Wrong again. The report says (pages 17-18) that US State Department documents ‘suggest’ this is so. It is not a definite statement by the watchdog group.

These are not just nuances. There is a big difference between ‘I think’ and ‘I know’ and between ‘maybe’ and ‘yes,’ except when I am talking to my wife.

Khairy is quoted in your report as saying that it was a serious matter that Anwar tried to mislead the US government to get grants for a foundation.

Nowhere in the report does it say that it was Anwar who did this. The report is critical of Liz Cheney (the former Vice President's daughter) and other US government officials, pointing the finger at them. Cheney also was the focus of the American press reports on the report, not Anwar.

Khairy also misquoted Anwar's May 20, 2007 statement. Khairy claims that Anwar said that the US government ‘did not grant any funds to the foundation, while the GAP report revealed that FFF had received US$21.3 million from the US government.’

Anwar never said that the US government ‘did not grant any funds to the foundation.’ He said, ‘Thus far the Foundation only received funds from Turkey, the United Kingdom and Jordan, among others. The US has not disbursed any funds to the Foundation.’

The important words are ‘thus far, ‘received’ and ‘disbursed’ and the date of the statement. Khairy omitted the fact that according to the report, the US$21.3 million was received only on August 8, 2007, two months after Anwar's statement.

So Anwar's statement was accurate, and Khairy's statement is inaccurate. Did Khairy misquote Anwar on purpose, or because of carelessness? I think he went to Oxford, so I think I know the answer.

Khairy has spent a lot of time studying a rather obscure and complicated issue far away in the United States. As many other readers have suggested, surely he has something more important to do closer to home, like worry about the public reaction to ‘subsidy rationalisation.’

As for Anwar signing the report to the American tax authorities, an American friend says that since no money was involved -- no tax fraud or evasion – the IRS simply would say to amend the tax report.

Check the box ‘yes’ rather than ‘no’ and then explain what is going on. It is not a big deal, which is why GAP mentioned it in small print in a footnote at the bottom of the page.