CEP re-emerges in the media

Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) was established by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after Pakatan Harapan’s victory in GE-14. The purpose of the council is to advise the government on economy and finance.

 

The members in CEP are Daim Zainuddin, Zeti Aziz, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Robert Kuok and Hassan Marican.

 

Malaysia, Malaysia Indicator, CEP, EAC, Daim Zainuddin, Zeti Aziz

 

In April, CEP started to make headlines again after being quiet since Pakatan Harapan’s 100 days of governance which began on 17 August 2018.

 

Malaysia, Malaysia Indicator, CEP, EAC, Daim Zainuddin, Zeti Aziz

 

However, the only member mentioned by the media for the past month (with around 203 articles) is Daim Zainuddin, who also happens to be the council chairman. For the other members, the media seems to be disassociating them with CEP.

 

Malaysia, Malaysia Indicator, CEP, EAC, Daim Zainuddin, Zeti Aziz

 

Zeti Aziz did make the headlines in the media in the past month, but the news on her are about being the former BNM governor and current PNB chairperson.

 

In April, most of the news talking about CEP is about the cost reduction of ECRL, from RM65.5 billion to RM44billion. This is because Daim Zainuddin was appointed by the Prime Minister to lead a special envoy to renegotiate the mega-project with China.

 

Malaysia, Malaysia Indicator, CEP, EAC, Daim Zainuddin, Zeti Aziz

 

Nevertheless, not all media use the name of the council when writing news on Daim and the ECRL project. From the media share, it is noticeable that the medium most incline to mention CEP is Bernama, with 31 articles.

 

While for the printed media, Sinar Harian mentioned CEP the most with 24 news articles. Other top media that used the name of the council are mainstream media, such as The Sun Daily, Malay Mail, The Edge, The Star and Utusan.

 

In February, the government also set up the Economic Action Council (EAC) to evaluate and decide on Malaysia’s economy and finance matters. The EAC consist of two CEP members, Zeti and Jomo.

 

Does CEP still exist with all the five members? Or is it just Daim alone in the council?