Highlights at Penang Institute

Exploring the Relevance and Effectiveness of Think Tanks in this Malaysia Baru Era

Dato’ Dr Ooi, Executive Director of Penang Institute participated as a panel discussant in the Network of Malaysian Think Tanks Meeting which conveyed at ISIS Malaysia earlier today. The meeting focused on the theme “Rising to the Malaysia Baru Challenge: How do Think Tanks Remain Relevant and Meet the Aspirations of the People.”

In broad, the discussion explored the following:

1. How do Malaysian think tanks remain relevant and effective in the Malaysia Baru era?

2. What are the aspirations and demands expressed by the Rakyat in the last election; and what is the progress thus far in meeting them?

3. What are the key bottlenecks and challenges, domestic or external, faced by policymakers?

4. How do think tanks continue to be effective in their role to support policy formulation and national discourse?

Also part of the discussion were Prof Dr Nik Rosnah Wan Abdullah (Tun Abdul Razak School of Government) and Emeritus Datuk Dr Professor Zakariah Abdul Rashid (Executive Director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research); moderated by Tan Sri Rastam Mohd Isa (Chairman & Chief Executive of ISIS Malaysia).