Former Umno deputy minister Saifuddin Abdullah is tight-lipped when asked for more details on the new NGO that Nazir Abdul Razak, brother to the prime minster, plans to set up.

"Right now, everything is still in the planning stages; we are still in talks," he said coyly, when moderating a forum in Kuala Lumpur today.

He did reveal that the NGO came about with the idea of addressing "pertinent socio-economic situations in the country”.

Currently, Saifuddin is the chief executive officer of the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM), a brainchild of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Asked if the new NGO will overlap with GMM, Saifuddin explained that GMM is a thinktank formed by the government, whereas an NGO is an independent body.

"There is a very big difference," he insisted.

When asked if this new NGO might follow the path of Persatuan Ummah Sejahtera Malaysia (PasMa), which had recently decided to form a new political party , he just smiled and raised his eyebrows.

Earlier this week, the buzz was that Nazir ( photo ) was planning to set up a new political party.

However, he quashed the rumours yesterday. Instead he announced that he planned to set up an NGO and had been talking to various people, including Saifuddin, about it.

Nazir, the chairperson of CIMB Group, has been seen as critical over the prime minister's handling of country's economy, going by his social media posts.