KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Pejuang Tanah Air claimed that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had earlier promised the National Recovery Council (NRC) chair to Langkawi member of parliament Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Pejuang president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir (Pejuang-Jerlun) told the Dewan Rakyat today that Ismail Sabri, who is Bera MP, had met Dr Mahathir before he was appointed as the new prime minister last month.
Mukhriz said the reason Pejuang nominated Dr Mahathir's name to be the NRC chairman was because the former premier had pledged to relinquish his position in the party to avoid conflict of interest.
"He (Dr Mahathir) has announced that he will relinquish his position as Pejuang chairman if he is appointed NRC chairman.
"In fact, I was informed that Bera MP has met Langkawi MP before he (Ismail Sabri) was appointed as prime minister recently and it was promised that the NRC will be formed if Bera becomes the prime minister and Langkawi would be appointed the chairman.
"Unfortunately, the promise was not fulfilled, but we (Pejuang) still believe that this is an extremely important matter if we are serious about addressing the current crises we are facing," he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
At the same time, Mukhriz also questioned the government's decision to include politicians in the NRC, adding that only experts should be allowed to be part of the council.
It was reported that 50 per cent of the NRC members would comprise experts, 25 per cent politicians from the government and the remaining 25 per cent would be represented by those in the opposition.
"I am not trying to question politicians and MPs' ability to provide ideas to the NRC but we have done this before and it was not successful.
"I believe it is important to hand this to experts in totality so that they can provide the best steps for the government to take to save the country," he said.