Saifuddin said Wisma Putra was aware of the goals and objectives of Daim’s visit to China, where he met the Chinese prime minister ahead of Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s visit next month.
He said it was not necessary that such a visit be undertaken by the minister responsible for foreign affairs.
“The question does not arise. That’s the whole idea of the concept of special emissary,” he told reporters after attending a by-election campaign event in Sungai Kandis last night, adding that he had met Daim before and after his China trip.
Daim’s visit raised questions over his role in the government, with Barisan Nasional MPs saying the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) which he chairs had been acting like the de facto government.
The five-member CEP is lead by Daim, and is also made up of Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Hassan Marican, Robert Kuok and Jomo Kwame Sundaram.
The council, formed in the aftermath of Pakatan Harapan’s takeover of the federal government last May, has been tasked with advising Putrajaya to chart its reform policies, as well as meeting and collecting feedback from top government officials.
But a recent report by Singapore’s The Straits Times said senior members of the government were increasingly becoming uneasy over Daim’s influence, especially on matters involving the economy, including placement of strategic institutions and individuals, with PH component parties such as PKR and DAP being sidelined in major decisions.
Meanwhile, Saifuddin refused to give details of the extent of Daim’s mandate in his discussion with Chinese leaders, but said it was linked to agreements signed between Beijing and the previous Barisan Nasional government.
He rejected suggestions that PH parties were at odds with CEP members, adding that Cabinet members were united in all decisions by the government.
“We do not have a ‘gag order’ to stop any parties from talkig. We can criticise each other and our differences are not on basic matters,” he said, adding that any decision by the ruling coalition’s Presidential Council as well as the Cabinet was considered final.