MPN member Teo Kok Seong said the prime minister had given them one more chance to prove their worth and value.

“MPN is still not abolished yet. It is not really disbanded; no decision yet,” Teo, of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, told FMT.

He said council members met Mahathir last month after it was announced that MPN would be abolished.

“In that half-an-hour meeting, a lot of things were discussed and he gave a signal for MPN to show our worth, the importance of its existence,” he said.

Teo said members were told to come back with a “restructuring plan”.

Two weeks after winning the May 9 polls, the Pakatan Harapan government announced that it would dismantle MPN.

Critics have spoken out against the body, saying it was used to legitimise the Barisan Nasional administration rather than its declared aim of promoting knowledge and nation-building.

Teo said MPN was currently preparing a proposal to be presented to Mahathir but declined to give more details.

He said he was confident that the body would be retained after restructuring.

Academic says unfair to dissolve National Council of Professors