The Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) is still needed as its members have a lot of experience to sort out various important issues, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He said that though the government had its full cabinet now, many of the ministers “are new and have no experience to sort out certain issues”.

“Our cabinet, I have to admit, has no experience. Many of them (ministers) are new. But I need to work fast. I need some people who have some experience to sort out things.

“The new ministers don’t even know the kind of responsibilities they have in the ministries. They (are) finding their way; they cannot be doing a lot of investigation,” he said.

Mahathir, who is chairperson of Bersatu, spoke to reporters after launching the party's inaugural town hall meeting today.

He said Daim Zainuddin would continue to head the CEP.

The advisory group would continue with a new and better role, he added.

When asked about the appointment of Muhammed Abdul Khalid, the managing director and chief economist at DM Analytics Malaysia, as his economic advisor, Mahathir said: “Advisor for me. He is not going to be with CEP. I need to have a constant analysis of what is happening in our country economically.”

Muhammed is also a former Khazanah Research Institute director.

The Prime Minister’s Office appointed Muhammed as the economic advisor to  Mahathir effective Aug 27.

- Bernama