KUALA LUMPUR (March 31): The final report of the Advisory Committee to the Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be classified as official secrets under the Official Secrets Act 1972.

Co-heads of the secretariat to the committee Khairil Anuar Ramli and Nurul Izzah Anwar said it is entirely the prerogative of the finance minister whether or not to accept the committee’s inputs and to decide on the next appropriate course of action.

They said the committee acknowledges that “many studies and reviews have been undertaken previously by various parties, including the government, involving the focus areas”.

The committee “endeavours to validate the previous studies and reviews and provide a fresh perspective where appropriate”, they said at a press conference.

However, the secretariat will be providing updates to the public when there are substantive updates relating to its work, they added.

“Some of the issues raised… [there’s] hardly space for rational deliberations.

“And change management is a term in itself. You can’t deny the importance of taking these things into account. [At times] you end up with less positives.

“The advisory has to be given that space to focus on its work… we do want to collate as many individuals and efforts towards nation-building,” Nurul Izzah said.

The five-member committee, led by former Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) president Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican, is supported by a 15-member secretariat for its day-to-day operations.

They will in turn be supported by four task forces — comprising public and private sector members, as well as academicians — across the four focus areas, the co-heads said.

As reported previously, the focus areas are: government revenue and expenditure, subsidy and social protection, government-linked companies (GLCs), and national debt.

The committee is working closely with the relevant ministries, which helps to limit overlaps. Engagement has been “positive”, Nurul Izzah said.

She acknowledged that it is critical to be in close communication with and to secure the “buy-in” of the implementation bodies for the committee to provide an impact.

On the review to determine the relevance of GLCs in current context and consolidating them where appropriate, the secretariat confirmed that this includes all government-linked investment companies (GLICs), public-listed GLCs and statutory bodies, but did not comment further.

The focus areas — all under the purview of the Ministry of Finance — are selected as they are key to “move the needle” in the state of the nation.

When asked about the possibilities that the scope of the focus areas will be expanded, they said the committee will “stick to focus areas” first.

When asked whether an objective review by the committee will take into account political realities in advising about implementations of measures, Nurul Izzah said the committee may take into account past government experiences as one of the variables.  

It is “too early” to pinpoint a foremost issue that the committee plans to address, Khairil said.

Khairil added that while the committee understands the urgency of the issues at hand, there is no commitment on any specific timeline on when the findings will be concluded.

“It is not a rushed job. The issues are structural, some legacy in nature and they will need a thorough review,” he said, adding that the areas involved are complex and interconnected.

The committee will have access to past studies conducted by the government, its agencies and statutory bodies as part of a stock-taking process, he said. It will come up with a set of policy recommendations upon concluding the review, he added.

As a comparison, the Council of Eminent Persons — another advisory committee set up in 2018 under the Pakatan Harapan government — had a 100-day timeline to meet and did not have a limit on the scope of issues to look into.