KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — A "minister mentor” post should be created for caretaker prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in the next administration, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia supreme council member Datuk Eddin Syazlee Shith said.

According to Utusan Malaysia, Eddin said the role would also be known as a "supervising minister”, which would be similar to the "minister mentor” position Singapore created in 2004.

"Muhyiddin will serve as the minister mentor. Given that he has held the highest positions in the government such as prime minister or deputy prime minister, then, in principle, he should not have resigned at the outset.

"It’s just that due to the issue of losing the support of elected representatives in the government, he is the cause of this situation,” he was quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia today.

Singapore established the minister mentor role for the country’s late founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, after he gave up the senior minister position he had held after stepping down as the prime minister in 1990.

Eddin, the former deputy communications and multimedia minister, said Perikatan Nasional (PN) has reached an agreement with Barisan Nasional (BN) to support Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the candidate to be the next prime minister.

He also said PN and Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin would be the deputy prime minister.

However, Umno supreme council member Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi has already rejected creating a minister mentor role for Muhyiddin.

Puad insisted the next government should not be a continuation of Muhyiddin’s PN administration.

"Don’t make this new government a proxy government. There were unseen hands behind him. Don’t bother with the mentor minister’s suggestion. We do not want the image of a PN 2.0 government. Absolutely new and unity,” he said in a statement on Facebook today.