IT has been barely 72 hours since 41 Palestinian patients and their 86 family members arrived at the Subang Air Force base in two Royal Malaysia Air Force (RMAF) A400M aircraft from Cairo, Egypt yet an “hotmeals” appeal to feed the Palestinian guests has started to hit the cyberspace.
This has prompted PW (Pseudoscience Watch) Community – a site which exposes scam activities – to air caution on its Facebook page, only for the organiser Iqlas Care Malaysia (ICM) to deny that it is fleecing Malaysians.
“We’ve been actively helping Gaza with our partner NGO there as you can see all our postings in our official Instagram,” clarified ICM founder who introduced herself as Suhara.
“The posting we have sent earlier is initiated by our Palestinian Chef to serve his people and with the consent of someone representing the hospital.”
Suhara’s clarification came about after PW Community highlighted as misleading ICM’s urgent “Palestinian Hotmeals” appeal to serve injured Palestinians who are under treatment at the Tuanku Mizan Armed Forces Hospital in Kuala Lumpur.
ICM which claimed that the meals will be prepared by a Palestinian chef had planned to deliver 150 lunch and 150 dinner packs at a cost of RM25 for both meals.
PW Community further accused ICM’s post as a scam to prey on vulnerable Malaysians who are sympathetic with the plight of Palestinians.
“The cost of transportation, accommodation and food for the Palestinians brought into Malaysia is fully borne by the government,” countered the ant-scam site.
“Outside bodies are not involved. The Malaysian Armed Forces managing the logistics. Thank you, ATM,’
Despite the denial by ICM that it is preying on the generosity of Malaysians, PW Community remains adamant that ICM has been opportunistic given that “no outside interference is required”.
“Moreover, ICM is not an NGO but a company registered under SSM (the Companies Commission of Malaysia),” insisted PW Community.
“We don’t need another AH&AT (referring to social media influencer couple Aisyah Hijanah and Alif Teega who were recently remanded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission after being accused of pocketing public donations).”
Interestingly, social activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir who has backed the appeal by ICM for donation following the appointment of a Palestinian Chef from the Al Takih Kitchen to prepare Palestinian food were trolled by detractors following the revelation by PW Community.
