KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — The final draft of the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) was not hastily prepared but has undergone weeks of inter-ministerial consultation and review, Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said today.

According to Utusan Malaysia, the official spokesman for the unity government said the process of revising and coordinating the draft of the 13th Malaysia Plan began two weeks ago, following an instruction from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

He added ministries were directed to study the preliminary draft submitted by the Ministry of Economy.

"The prime minister instructed all ministries to review the 13MP draft presented by the secretary-general of the Economy Ministry about two weeks ago, on a Wednesday.

"Subsequently, by the following Friday, all ministries were asked to submit written feedback to the Economy Ministry,” Fahmi reportedly said today.

He was speaking to reporters after launching the Nadi Aspirasi Nasional Bersama Anak Muda (Nanba) programme organised by the Community Communications Department (J-KOM) at IWK Eco Park @ Pantai Dalam today.

Fahmi, who also serves as minister of communications, said a special Cabinet session was convened early last week to consider the input from various ministries before the plan was finalised at Wednesday’s full Cabinet meeting.

He said the discussions yielded a range of proposals and adjustments that had to be incorporated into the final document.

"These included requests and adjustments from several ministries that required further consideration by the Economy Ministry.

"As such, the Cabinet agreed for Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah to take over the responsibilities and functions of the economy minister in finalising the 13MP draft before it is printed and tabled in Parliament,” Fahmi added.

Rafizi, who resigned earlier this month, criticised the last-minute revisions yesterday, warning that rushing the process could undermine the credibility of national policy.