SUBANG JAYA, July 24 — The Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) should be wholly replaced once Pakatan Harapan delivers its 100-day election pledges so fresh ideas may arise, suggested Business Ethics Institute of Malaysia chairman K. Haridas.
He noted that such a body did not exist under previous administrations, and said it should be fully utilised to hold the government accountable and provide input on its policy making.
“We need fresh blood to come in and raise new ideas. We need to break away from the default culture that has been practised all this while,” he said at the office of the National Patriots Association (Patriot) today.
The CEP is a quasi-official body set up to advise the ruling Pakatan Harapan following its 14th general election victory.
However, the government has repeatedly stressed that the CEP is purely advisory and that it is not compelled to follow any of its recommendations.
Haridas added that youth and civil society must be allowed access to such a platform so that they may ask hard or uncomfortable questions of the government.
“The civil service has produced good people but unfortunately, they are spineless and too afraid to ask challenging questions.
“We don’t want the old institutions anymore,” he said.
