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Ex-editor: SEC must be transparent about its plans
Published:  Aug 27, 2015 12:29 PM
Updated: 5:49 AM

The Special Economic Committee (SEC) must be transparent about what it plans to do in order to minimise the impact of the current economic crisis, a veteran newsman says.

Commenting on the committee, which is specifically tasked to deal with the current economic crisis, Ahiruddin Atan said including the people online would be as crucial as engaging them facep-to-face.

"Excluding them is a sure recipe for disaster and failure.

"This alone makes the SEC's tasks already more challenging than the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) of the 1997/1998 era," he said in a blog posting today.

Ahiruddin added that the absence of politicians from the opposition, apart from the absence of the central bank governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, will also be seen as disturbing to some people.

"It's a good thing that (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department) Abdul Wahid Omar ( photo ) is not your typical politician so he will pick the best brains regardless of race and political affiliation to strengthen the SEC," he said.

Najib, who announced the establishment of the committee on Tuesday, said the committee's task is to reduce any global impact on the national economy.

The committee will be headed by Abdul Wahid.

Other members of the committee are Najib's brother, CIMB group chairperson Nazir Razak, Khazanah Nasional Bhd deputy chairperson Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Azman Mokhtar, Maybank CEO Farid Alias, RAM Holdings CEO K Govindan and Universiti Malaya vice-chancellor Noor Azlan Ghazali.

Meanwhile, Ahiruddin recounted how many had said "stupid things" about former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad when he set up the National Economic Action Council in 1997.

"Those stupid remarks were made by our own people, bankers, punters, politicians, even wealthy editors... These were not stupid people; they were just saying stupid things.

"With the benefit of hindsight, we should stop making stupid remarks about the setting up of the SEC.

"Yes, I mean we - you and I - and not just the power people that Nazir was referring to the other day, just before he was called in by his brother the prime minister to do national service via the SEC," Ahiruddin said.

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