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In a statement released yesterday, Lee Kim Yew, who founded WCEF 12 years ago, said the forum that took place today had nothing to do with him.
“It is true that the initial WCEF was founded by me in 2009 and this forum was first hosted in the Palace of the Golden Horses supported by Michael Yeoh, after a few years.
“The name of the forum has since been changed to the World Chinese Economic Summit (WCES) and this year to GCET.
“‘I have come to know that the organisers of the Dec 27 event have been using the WCEF name and some of our photos in China from two years ago and calling it the 11th WCEF. This will surely cause confusion,” he said.
Lim also said the organisers of today’s summit should not have named the event the 11th WCEF, and criticised the organisers for inviting Najib to speak at the event.
“They invited the former prime minister to that forum, a convicted criminal awaiting the outcome of an appeal. But l need to make my stand clear – we must respect the judiciary and uphold the rule of law in Malaysia.
“To involve him in this ‘new’ WCEF is a huge embarrassment to me when being confronted by friends asking if I invited (the) former prime minister to officiate the 11th WCEF.”
Lim also described the decision to invite Najib, who remains free pending the outcome of his SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption appeal to the Federal Court, to officiate the forum as a “huge embarrassment”.
He said he had been confronted by friends on why he invited Najib.
Yesterday, GCET issued a statement that clarified that the organisation is not associated with WCEF, and has nothing to do with today’s summit.
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