MINISTERS should heed Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) chairman Daim Zainuddin’s advice to stop quarrelling among themselves as it could undermine people’s confidence in the Pakatan Harapan government, said observers.

Political scientist Associate Professor Dr Jeniri Amir said PH, which is entering its nine month as the federal government, must resolve problems between cabinet members behind closed doors, as issuing conflicting statements indicate to the public that things are not right in Putrajaya.

“They (PH) do not have to raise Barisan Nasional’s flaws any more. Instead, they should show that they are capable of leading the country better than BN.

“Based on the situation now, the people are not only sick of it, but are also losing confidence in PH,” said the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak lecturer.

Open conflicts could also lead to the people undermining Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s leadership, he added.

Yesterday, Daim advised ministers against openly quarrelling among themselves as it could make the public feel disgust towards the government.

The long-time ally of Dr Mahathir said ministers should, instead, show solidarity with one another, and work as a team among themselves as well as with civil servants in their respective ministries.

Universiti Malaya Associate Professor Awang Azman Awang Pawi said Daim is the right person to give such advice, given that his role in CEP is to ensure the PH administration starts, and remains, on the right track.

“I think Daim is also fed up with the situation himself, and saw that his intervention was needed to ensure PH stays on the right track and is not belittled by the people.”

He said ministers should take Daim’s words seriously as the political veteran tends to reserve his comments for matters that have serious implications for the government.

Recently, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali issued conflicting statements on the status of the East Coast Rail Link project.

Azmin said the government had decided to cancel the project, but this was disputed by Lim, who said he was “shocked” by the announcement.

Prior to that, Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of unity P. Waytha Moorthy were involved in a tiff when the former admitted that he had “smuggled” members of Bersatu’s Youth wing into the prime minister’s office to submit a memorandum calling for the latter’s sacking. – January 31, 2019.