KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) chairman Tun Daim Zainuddin supports the release of CEP’s 100-day report but conceded that some of its information should be placed under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
“I will release it. Release it to the public but that is not for me to decide. I was asked to chair the meetings and get the information, facts, analyse and make the recommendations. That is my role and I shouldn’t go beyond that,” he told The Star in an interview.
“I like to share information and debate so that you get the best. But there is information in the report that rightly is under Official Secrets Act (OSA).
“We always need feedback from the rakyat, what they are not happy about and what the government is not doing right. This feedback is very important as in the end, we have to solve their problems.”
The CEP report was prepared during the first 100 days since Pakatan Harapan defeated Barisan Nasional in the general election last May.
The government’s decision to place the report under OSA has been met with criticism, including from Pakatan leaders who argue that the public had a right to know its content.
Daim told The Star that the report was prepared for Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and that CEP was formed to calm investors and markets after the change in government
“Before that, no one thought Barisan was going to lose — even investors. They, the investors, want continuity and suddenly this happened. The PM wanted to calm the markets,” he explained.
“We were given 100 days to get all the information, which we did. We submitted (recommendations on) about 70 topics. We briefed the PM and some of it were highly technical. In the end, it is up to the government (to release the CEP report).”
The Star also said Professor Jomo Kwame Sundram, a member of the CEP, had agreed that the report should be made public.
Other CEP members are former Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, former Petronas CEO Tan Sri Hassan Marican, and billionaire Tan Sri Robert Kuok.
