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Pak Lah: My delegation to Paris was funded by our NGO

Former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today said his nine-men delegation to the Paris Climate Change Conference last year was funded by NGO Landskap Malaysia which is chaired by his wife Jeanne Abdullah.

Abdullah added that the delegation also received "some help" but did not elaborate.

"It was funded by our NGO. We have our own money and surely we also received some help," Abdullah told Malaysiakini .

Abdullah was asked to respond to a complaint received by Malaysiakini that the former premier's group comprised a quarter of Malaysia's delegation to the climate conference and whether this was done on taxpayers' money.

The e-mail complaint also questioned the group's role at the conference.

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) website, apart from Abdullah and Jeanne, others in his group included the former premier's special officer Jefridan Atan, assistant special officer Muhammad Hakimi Mohd Shafiai and aide-de-camp Mohd Khairi Khairudin.

Also in the group were Abdullah's security officers Rahmat Mat Atan and Mohd Rusni Rejab as well as his medical officer Aizal Azan Abdul Rahim and medical assistant Mohd Aris Lebai Bador.

The remaining members of Malaysia's 39-person delegation comprised government officials, academics, NGO leaders and diplomats.

NGO's patron

Abdullah told Malaysiakini that they indeed had a role to play through Landskap Malaysia at the high-profile climate conference which took place from Nov 30 to Dec 11.

"We have an organisation and so we went there as we had a role to play," he said without explaining further.

The conference concluded with the Paris Agreement for which almost 200 countries agreed to non-binding goals to cut greenhouse gases emissions.

Abdullah is also patron of Landskap Malaysia, which is described on its website as a non-profit organisation committed to "nurturing Malaysians with knowledge of the natural rainforest and to inculcate a love for nature".

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