PM: CEP's report may not be made public

The Council of Eminent Persons' (CEP) report may not be made public, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"Their job is to investigate and report to me. Whether I accept the report or not, is my business. The main thing is to feed me with the information I need in order to make decisions, so it is the government’s business.

"When we make decisions in government, we don't always publish it," he added at the sidelines of the Cities 4.0 and Business 4.0 International Conference and Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur today.

The formation of the five-member CEP on May 12 was among Mahathir's first tasks as prime minister.

Led by Mahathir’s confidante Daim Zainuddin, the CEP is a powerful body that interviewed some 350 people from 200 organisations – many of whom are from the government or GLCs – to help formulate a report on economic and financial policies for the prime minister.

The report was submitted 100 days after the CEP was formed.

Although Mahathir has yet to decide on the fate of the council, he has stated several times that he still needed Daim to be among his advisors.

In an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini last Thursday, the prime minister stressed that CEP's job was to advise the government on policies and not interfere.

Apart from Daim, the council comprises former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, former Petronas president Mohd Hassan Marican, economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram and tycoon Robert Kuok.

The CEP's secretariat head Muhammed Abdul Khalid has since been appointed as the prime minister's economic advisor. - Mkini