No guarantee CEP will be dissolved in 100 days

KUALA LUMPUR: There is no guarantee that the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) will be dissolved after 100 days. That is entirely up to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, according to Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
"The CEP is not a legal entity, it was set up by the PM with specific terms of reference," he said today at the Parliament lobby. "It's up to the prime minister and the Cabinet to decide on CEP's suggestions."
He also defended Tun Daim Zainuddin as the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government's representative to negotiate key infrastructure deals with Beijing, without involving officials from the Foreign Ministry.
When asked why he as a minister of foreign affairs did not go to China, Saifuddin said not every diplomatic visit requires his presence or any government official. "This (having a special envoy) is not something that is wrong in my eyes," he said.
He said that there are many ways of dealing with foreign affairs. "Sometimes we send the foreign minister, sometimes it's the finance minister, sometimes it's the economic affairs minister. It depends on a case-by-case basis," he added.
Saifuddin said this was not the first time that the prime minister had sent a special envoy. He added that Wisma Putra met with Daim before and after his trip, and he shared a report of it.
"What's most important aspect is the relationship between Malaysia and China. On on hand we have to continue if we want to foster good ties with China.
"We also want to maintain the relationship, in fact improve it, look at some of the contracts inked with them," he said.
There were calls by opposition MPs for the CEP to be disbanded. They claimed that it sidestepped the role of the Cabinet and the judiciary.