Anwar said MPN was redundant as its duties overlapped with other government bodies.

He said the council was established in July 2021 as there was a need for it at the time.

At a press conference today, Anwar also noted that there were other agencies with overlapping duties, leading to extra costs.

“What I have done is that many of my duties as prime minister have been delegated to my deputies (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Fadillah Yusof),” he said.

He also said Putrajaya will study the functions of the National Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC) to avoid any overlapping duties and responsibilities, noting that its scope of work was covered by the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

There had been multiple calls for MPN to be disbanded, even before the recent general election.

Zahid, the Barisan Nasional chairman, had pledged that MPN would no longer be needed if BN won the Nov 19 election.

The Umno president had repeatedly called for the council to be done away with, saying its functions were unclear, unnecessary, and overlapped with those of think tanks and other government agencies.

In September, Muhyiddin had complained that Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration had been slow to implement the council’s recommendations, adding that its sluggishness to spur the economy would be detrimental with predictions of a global economic downturn next year.

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