PETALING JAYA: The Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) must be dissolved and its report made available to Parliament and the rakyat, said Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
The Secretary-General of Umno thanked the CEP, who has completed his term of office and will hand over the report to the Prime Minister next week.
"The council was formed to advise the government in its infancy, especially before the cabinet was fully appointed and prior to the first meeting of the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara.
"Now, everything has been formed and the Prime Minister has a large cabinet consisting of five senior party leaders, some Pakistani Harapan MPs have even fought longer for their fight than the CEP members," he said in a statement on Tuesday (August 21).
Based on Umbert's principle of responsibility, Umno believes that it is not suitable for the CEP to still be there, he added.
"CEP does not have the legitimacy of the law or the Constitution.
"It is not part of the legislative, executive or judiciary, and the continued existence of the CEP will only endanger the current parliamentary democratic system," he said.
Annuar said while there are some who feel that the CEP is on a voluntary basis without any costs for the government, it is not about the issue of costs but about power.
Furthermore, there is the problem of conflicts of interest because members of the board are heavily involved in government affairs.
"The CEP also threatens the sanctity of the cabinet, which creates a false perception that the government is not familiar and is not consistent," he said.
This is because some Cabinet ministers have previously accused some members of the CEP of embezzlement, but now seemed to be bowing to the council, Annuar added.
"It is a matter of integrity when a particular formula used has failed, but the CEP is not accountable to anyone other than the prime minister.
"I propose that the CEP report should not only be made available to the public and Parliament for the sake of transparency, but also avoid any other allegations," he said.
There are now suspicions about the role of the CEP, which is closely linked to high-level political maneuvers, he added.
"This will only aggravate the situation and create a cabinet within a cabinet.
"Generally, the CEP must be dissolved and its members must not be involved in government affairs," he said, adding that the current system must be able to operate on the basis of regulation and constitution.
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