They wonder if it has now become the fourth branch of government.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said Daim had gone to China to discuss contracts awarded by the previous administration, and to hand deliver a personal letter to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang penned by Mahathir.
MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong questioned the need for the “non-legally binding” CEP to carry out bilateral work with China, as the government already had a foreign affairs ministry and ample representatives in place to do this.
“Tell us how far their powers actually extend,” said Wee who was minister in the Prime Minister’s Department under the BN government.
“We need to know if under the Federal Constitution the CEP has been legally appointed and what kind of power, jurisdiction or terms of reference have been given to them,” Wee told reporters in the Parliament lobby today.
“We’re very disappointed in the minister in charge for failing to give a proper answer just now. He even said that the CEP is not bound by specific laws,” Wee said, referring to de-facto Law Minister Liew Vui Keong.
Liew had earlier told the Dewan Rakyat that the CEP was not bound by laws as it merely played an advisory role to the government.
Liew said this when responding to Khairy Jamaluddin’s (BN-Rembau) query on the CEP’s accountability and if it was acting beyond its role as an advisory body.
Wee, who is the Ayer Hitam MP, noted that the recent decision to zero-rate the goods and services tax (GST) was announced by the CEP, and not the finance minister or the government.
“If you talk about rule of law you need to follow the SOP (standard operating procedure). Liew needs to answer this,” Wee said.
“The decision was made by the CEP, not Guan Eng,” he added, referring to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Khairy later told reporters here he did not appreciate the CEP overstepping its position by summoning former chief justice Md Raus Sharif and Court of Appeal president Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin and then demanding their resignations.
Khairy, the former youth and sports minister, added that Malaysia had only three branches of government – executive, legislative, and the judiciary.
The CEP was becoming the fourth body of government, he said, adding that it should stick to advisory work and not overstep its boundaries.
Khairy said the CEP had conflicting areas of interest as CEP member Zeti Akhtar Aziz had recently been made chairman of PNB and Sime Darby Property.
“How can members of the CEP, while still in their 100 days of advisory work, take on positions in government-linked entities? The minister avoided my question on this,” Khairy said.
Khairy said the CEP should be dissolved if it continued to overstep its role, adding while he would continue voicing his dissatisfaction, he would not table a motion in Parliament on the matter.