Malay Consultative Council (MPM) secretary-general Hasan Mad has announced that the NGO will be holding a closed-door meeting with the 25 ‘Eminent Malays’ soon.

However, Hasan noted, a date has not been set so far as the Eminent 25 have yet to state a suitable date for the meeting.

He said the plan to hold the meeting with the Eminent 25 was made after the Prime Minister’s Office had asked MPM to meet them.

Hasan did not disclose what they will be discussing, and said that he would only do so after the meeting.

“We will not discuss it openly as we will be meeting them. I cannot talk about it yet until I meet them,” Hasan ( on the right ) told a press conference today.

“The Prime Minister’s Office asked us to meet with the Eminent 25. So we are representing it(the Prime Minister’s Office),” he said.

He also did not disclose why MPM was chosen by the Prime Minister’s Office to represent it to meet the 25 eminent Malays.

The 25 eminent Malays had declined to meet with the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to discuss issues raised by the former civil servants and diplomets in their open letter.

The group, early this month had written an open letter to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, calling on him to show leadership in the wake of intolerant voices from rightwing groups such as Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) and Perkasa.

The former top officers, comprising retired judges, ambassadors and scholars, said in the joint letter that it was time for the moderate Malays to speak out against extremists.

Assembly to restore strength of Malay race

Meanwhile, MPM will organise an assembly aimed to restore the strength of the Malay race.

Hasan said the assembly, dubbed 'Perhimpunan Lancarkan Gerakan Renaisans Melayu' or ‘Assembly to Launch the Malay Renaissance Movement’ aims to assemble more than 20,000 Malays in the country.

He said the assembly would also act as a "carnival" to provide opportunities for Malay business owners to expand their businesses through exhibitions from sponsors.

"This assembly is meant to restore the power of the Malay race because we found that we have faced many challenges and obstacles and in the process, it has compromised the power we have all these while," he said.

Apart from Najib, MPM will also invite Muslim leaders from PAS and PKR, as well as NGOs such as Perkasa and Isma, to the assembly, scheduled to be held on Jan 10, 2015.

If the weather does not permit it, the assembly will be postponed to March 7.

Other than MPM, this assembly will also receive support from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara), Teraju, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and Jakim.

The sponsors range from Petronas, Khazanah Nasional, Lembaga Tabung Haji and Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC).