ALARM BELLS RING FOR NAJIB & JHO LOW – DAIM’S CHINA TRIP A SUCCESS DESPITE ALL-OUT MEDIA ASSAULT: MAHATHIR TO MEET PRESIDENT XI IN MID-AUGUST, GUAN ENG & OTHER MINISTERS TO ACCOMPANY PM TO BEIJING

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will next month lead a delegation to China to meet President Xi Jinping, government sources revealed today.

It will be his first visit to Beijing since assuming the position of prime minister for the second time in his career.

His five-day official working trip will be in mid-August, said the sources without providing exact dates.

Mahathir is expected to be accompanied by at least three cabinet ministers including Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.

“The prime minister has a very tight schedule from August onwards, starting with Beijing. There, Mahathir will be meeting President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

“He will also be meeting Geely’s chairperson Li Shufu,” the source told Malaysiakini. Geely is currently a 49 percent stakeholder in Proton.

Daim’s visit ‘success’

Meanwhile, another source revealed that Daim Zainuddin’s just-concluded visit to China was a successful one in “paving the way” for the premier’s coming working visit.

“Daim was there for a two-day visit to open up the doors as a representative of the Mahathir administration. He is a well-respected figure as a former finance minister,” the source said.

Malaysiakini understands that Azmin and Lim may also be heading to China in the first week of August ahead of the prime minister’s visit to discuss several Malaysian mega-projects being handled jointly with Chinese firms.

However, one of the minister’s spokespersons said this has yet to be confirmed.

Before China, Mahathir will be head to Japan again from August 6 to 9 to attend the “Future Leaders” lecture series in Fukuoka.

The premier is scheduled to address business and student leaders while there.

CEP not dictating to gov’t, all ‘nice and clean’ says Rais Hussin

Bersatu’s strategist Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff today admitted there is a “contestation of ideas” between Pakatan Harapan leaders and the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) over the direction of government decisions.

He, however, said there is a way of moderating these differences as the CEP’s proposals would be first discussed for consensus within the Harapan framework and a collective decision made at cabinet meetings.

“We are also guided by Harapan’s manifesto […] the decisions will be made at the Harapan presidential council and the cabinet and some of them will be brought to the rulers,” he told Malaysiakini.

“So, this is a nice, clean process […] where is it that the CEP is dictating ?” he said.

Yesterday, Singapore’s Straits Times (ST) reported that CEP, which was intended as an advisory body, was tussling with Harapan leaders over the direction of government decisions.

The report cited CEP effecting important personnel changes in the government including the resignation of the Bank Negara governor and two top judges and over the position of the Dewan Rakyat speaker for which PKR and DAP reportedly wanted a different candidate.

It said the extent of the cull and restructuring, overseen by CEP chair Daim Zainuddin, had led to a pushback from Harapan leaders.

Rais said he did not rule out that some Harapan leaders were not comfortable with the CEP.

“In a class of 50 students, maybe one or two will have their own issues, perspective and reasoning. The view of one or two or three (leaders) over 50 is not the common view,” he said.

“So, if they called up Singapore’s Straits Times, saying this and crying over that, it is their own problem,” he said, “

“Those who feel unhappy over information from ‘sources’, maybe they don’t understand the process, maybe they are not in the presidential council and cabinet. That’s why they don’t understand that the CEP does not decide,” he said.

Not on same page claim

The Straits Times‘ report added that there was speculation the CEP had also asked Khazanah’s top management to resign and wanted to move the entity to the Prime Minister’s Department.

It claimed that Daim had also disagreed with the renegotiation of the LRT3 and MRT2 projects, favouring instead an outright re-tendering.

However, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has announced a renegotiated LRT3 deal that will see its cost cut from RM31.45 billion to RM16.63 billion.

The Straits Times report also quoted a Harapan leader as saying the cabinet’s decision to approve Lim’s proposal over Daim’s indicated that Mahathir was not entirely on the same page with Daim.

Meanwhile, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Salahuddin Ayub acknowledged that Harapan ministers had turned down some of the advice forwarded by the CEP.

“Yes, but I cannot reveal (exactly) what happened in the cabinet,” he told Malaysiakini.

“If we do not agree with some of the advice, we can debate in the cabinet meeting,” he said, stressing there was a system for the cabinet to deliberate these proposals.

‘Proposals not binding’

Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok and Transport Minister Anthony Loke declined to comment when contacted for their view while their colleagues downplayed the Straits Times report.

Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said Harapan leaders and CEP have maintained a cordial relationship so far.

“No one (in the Harapan leadership) has spoken to me on this issue and it never brought up (in a Pakatan Harapan meeting),” he said when asked if he knew any leader who was uneasy with the CEP.

“As for the CEP, I think its tenure is limited (to 100 days) and their term of reference is also limited. They give their recommendations and then the prime minister and the cabinet will decide,” he said.

Human Resources Minister M Kula Segaran said he has no issue with the CEP.

“What’s the problem, (I have) no issue. We have a cabinet and I am a cabinet minister, we will abide by the cabinet decision as their proposals have no binding effect,” he said.

– M’kini

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