THE Pakatan Harapan presidential council will meet tomorrow to discuss cabinet positions, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“Tomorrow is a holiday. But I will not be taking any holiday. Tomorrow we will have the meeting of the presidential council of Pakatan Harapan. We will discuss the formation of the cabinet,” he said at a press conference as the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya, late yesterday.

“Although I am prime minister, I am bound to consider the views of the component parties. There is quite a number of things we need to do. Some are officially required, some policy decisions.”

PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng were also present.

Dr Mahathir said the new government’s priority was to ensure the financial markets opening on Monday after the long weekend remained stable.

“We will have to focus on these two things – the (country’s) finances and economic management. We will be focussing on all these and I would like yo tell the business people that they can now push up the prices in the stock markets. There should be no cause for the devaluation of the ringgit.

He said the new government would like to “see a very active” stock market with an increase in capitalisation.

“We think we can achieve this because we have people who are experienced in the economic field and in finance. Also I am not educated in these two areas. But, strange to say, while I may be a dictator, I’m also a good listener.”

Dr Mahathir spoke of re-introducing a policy to foster cooperation between the public and private sectors.

“The idea of a business-friendly government was mooted long ago when we introduced the concept of Malaysia Incorporated.”

He said pump prices might no longer be adjusted on a weekly basis: “No more petrol prices adjusted every few seconds. It is disturbing to petrol dealers.

“We hope the people appreciate what we intend to do, because we love this country and we are here together and we are not fighting for money.

“We will abolish the term ‘cash is king’. We need money but it will not be our king.” – May 11, 2018.