IDEAS PLEASED THE PRIME MINISTER HEARD OUR PROPOSAL TO FORM A SPECIAL BIPARTISAN COMMITTEE OVERSEEING THE ELECTION COMMISSION

The Prime Minister on 1 June 2013 announced the establishment of a special bipartisan parliamentary committee to oversee the Election Commission.

In our election observation report that was released on 8 May 2013, our top proposal to improve the Election Commission was that “members of the EC should explicitly be made accountable to, and be appointed by, a permanent and bipartisan special parliamentary committee.”

I am pleased that our proposal has been heard by the Prime Minister, and it shows the Prime Minister is serious about reconciling the nation.

But this announcement is only a small step towards improving the level of public trust in the EC. The more important part is in the implementation.

I urge the Prime Minister, and the current members of the EC, to give this special bipartisan parliamentary committee real teeth to do its job. As we said on Section 7 of our election observation report, there are several steps that must be taken to improve the EC, namely:

1. This parliamentary committee should have the power to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the appointment and removal of EC members.

2. Members of the EC should be recruited transparently from among experts in the field, preferably employing a competitive application and headhunting process. The key criteria for EC membership should be the individual’s core competence and their ability to command public confidence.

3. The EC should have the powers to recruit and manage its own staff, independent from the civil service. The current approach of seconding staff from the civil service should stop, though former and existing civil servants should not be barred from applying.

4. The EC should devise a coherent public relations strategy, which must include a policy that prevents any EC member from making statements that could be construed as politically partisan.

I am very concerned with how the EC handles public relations today. Their combative approach appeases no one, and further undermines their own professionalism and impartiality. I have heard people joking about how some EC members are “more UMNO than the UMNO president”. Albeit just a joke, this is very unhealthy (and also bad for UMNO).

In more mature democracies, most people do not even know who are the members of their EC because the EC there takes a more “behind the curtain” approach. But in Malaysia the EC seems only too glad to be in the limelight. I urge the EC to take a deep breath before talking to the media, and prioritise the country’s interest when deciding the type of message they deliver to the public.

Our full election observation (full proposals on page 32) can be downloaded from here

SATURDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2013

IDEAS ADVISOR DATO’ ANTHONY COOPER AWARDED HONORARY DOCTORATE OF LAWS BY UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM

Saturday, 23 Feb – Dato’ Anthony Cooper, an advisor at the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) today receives an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Nottingham. The conferment ceremony takes place at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus this morning.

Dato’ Anthony Cooper and Datin Andrea Maiolla speaking with IDEAS President YAM Tunku ‘Abidin Tuanku Muhriz at IDEAS Anniversary 2012

Commenting on this award, IDEAS Chief Executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan said:

“Both Dato’ Anthony and his wife Datin Andrea Maiolla have been supporting us not just intellectually but also financially since before we were officially launched three years ago. Dato’ Anthony has also been encouraging us to work closer with University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus and I hope with this award, IDEAS too will have the opportunity to strengthen our relationship with the university. I am really happy that this event takes place today, in the same month that IDEAS celebrates our third anniversary. Everyone at IDEAS is really excited by this award.”

“Dato’ Anthony certainly has an illustrious background. He has worked in Iran, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom, combining a career in the private sector and active participation in civil society. He was a Partner and latterly Senior Partner in Price Waterhouse Malaysia in 1971 – 1985. He then became Group Managing Director of Wellington Underwriting Holdings in 1986 – 1996. He has also held many voluntary leadership responsibilities in organisations such as Selangor Cheshire Homes, Alice Smith Schools Association, The Royal Society for Asian Affairs, The Samaritans Singapore, and The British Malaysian Society and Cranbrook School in England.”

“Dato’ Anthony and Datin Andrea are governors of The Tinggi Foundation which provides scholarships to University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus students, and they also run their own private charity, The A and A Charitable Trust. Through both charities, they have supported numerous educational and research causes in Malaysia. ”

LAUNCH OF EMERGING MARKETS HEALTH NETWORK (EMHN) AND RELEASE OF POLICY PAPER ON FAKE MEDICINE.

“FAKE MEDICINE IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM AND MUST BE COUNTERED WITH STRENGTHENING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION”.

Kuala Lumpur – The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) marks its third anniversary this month by launching the Emerging Markets Health Network (EMHN), which is a new policy centre that aims to help emerging markets address their health challenges by exploring the potential of markets and the private sector.

EMHN is an ambitious project that works with its network of scholars, think tanks and thought leaders to ensure the free market perspective is heard in health policy debates in Asia, Latin America and Africa. To achieve its aims, EMHN will coordinate the writing and dissemination of policy papers, monographs and opinion editorials; conduct public seminars and events; and provide commentary to the media on topical health policy issues.

EMHN is led by Philip Stevens, IDEAS’s Associate Director. Mr Stevens was formerly head of the health programme at International Policy Network, London. He is an expert on global health policy, and has written widely on AIDS, malaria, health systems, pharmaceutical innovation and counterfeit medicines. Philip has also held research positions at the Adam Smith Institute and Reform in London, and spent several years as a management consultant. He holds degrees from the London School of Economics and Durham University.

In conjunction with its launch today, EMHN also releases its firstpolicy briefing paper that looks into the problem of fake medicines in Asia. Co-authored by Philip Stevens and Dr Helmy Haja Mydin, IDEAS Fellow, the paper explains that fake medicine is fast becoming a worrying problem in Asia, with up to 5% of medicines in Malaysia beingfake. Although this is relatively low compared to our ASEAN neighbours, there are particular concerns about the quality and integrity of the many traditional medicines that are widely sold in the country because some have been found to actually contain poison.

Most academic and NGO commentators on the problem of fake medicines typically prescribe a mixture of stronger regulation, harsher criminal penalties, and an increase of enforcement activities against individual perpetrators. But the paper argues that in some countries the creation of new regulatory layers and tougher criminal sanctions
may be counterproductive, especially because new powers for regulators create opportunities for bribery and corruption. Therefore more effective solutions must address the fundamental causes behind fake drugs, which revolve around the inability of legitimate manufacturers to protect the integrity of their brands and weak protection of
intellectual property rights.

The full briefing paper can be viewed here. More information about EMHN can be found on www.emhn.org and www.ideas.org.my.

For further information please email Mr Philip Stevens via philip@emhn.org or call Wan Saiful Wan Jan on +60 13 278 6334

IDEAS PRESS STATEMENT
5 February 2012

EDUCATION POLICY MUST ESCAPE “MIDDLE CLASS CAPTURE”

The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) today released a paper summarising the key findings from Stage 1 of their “Voice of the Poor” research project. The aim of the “Voice of the Poor” research project is to provide a bridge between the bottom 40% of with policy-makers and other key stakeholders in education policy.

Children who belong to the lowest income groups suffer the worst consequences of lower quality education. They do not have the advantage of being able to opt for a private education system or a better school outside of the area that they live in, nor do they have adequate access to alternative sources of education such as the internet and private tuitions. If neglected, they will continue to live in a vicious cycle that keeps them in their current socio-economic condition, thus hampering the country’s mission to improve the living conditions of the bottom 40%.

Understanding the challenges faced by parents in this segment is crucial in developing a better education system that can adapt itself
to the needs of the group that require the most help. Unfortunately, this is also the very group that is most frequently neglected in any
policy consultations. It for this reason that IDEAS, in partnership with arise Asia Sdn Bhd,embarked on the “Voice of the Poor” project to
give voice to the bottom 40%. Specifically, we have two aims:

1. To provide a voice for the poor and underprivileged in national
education policy-making process
2. To help the public policymakers, corporations and foundations
understand the needs and aspirations of the bottom 40% in education.

From the work in Stage 1 of this project, we found that, as can be expected, poor families have high aspirations for their children, and
social mobility is a vision shared by all.

Among the major challenges faced by poor families are (1) additional fees charged by schools exacerbate their financial constraints, (2)
peer group pressure, (3) parents are ill-equipped to help their children with school work, (4) discriminatory school environment, (5) bad or underperforming teachers, and (6) language barrier in vernacular schools.

Poor parents see themselves as being trapped in a weak government school system. Since they cannot afford private schools, they rely on private tuitions to cover the shortcomings of government schools. Poor parents from different ethnic backgrounds show different attitudes towards the vocational system. They also worry about the ethnic segregation that their children have to endure.

Improving the quality of schools and ensuring that children from low-income families receive quality education are priorities that need to be addressed by the government and other stakeholders. While the National Education Blueprint does contain some attempts to address these concerns, more attention needs to be channelled towards the specific challenges that face this community, particularly on the obstacles they face in ensuring that their children receive a quality education. But this cannot be done without us actively going down to the ground and talking to the bottom 40%. Otherwise, our policies will continue to suffer from middle-class capture.

The next stages of this project will take place as soon as funding becomes available. We appeal to donors and corporate foundations to
financially assist us in completing this project.

Wan Saiful Wan Jan
Chief Executive
Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS)

Kuala Lumpur, 28 Jan – Saya akan menulis sepenuhnya mengenai kenyataan Tunku Abdul Aziz bin Tunku Ibrahim dan Anthony Loke Siew Fook di dalam kolum biasa saya pada Jumaat ini. Namun terdapat beberapa perkara yang akan saya ulas dahulu sebagaimana berikut:

1. Adalah malang sekali apabila perbincangan peribadi kini menjadi topik perbualan umum. Ahli politik seharusnya mampu berhubung dan berkomunikasi dengan semua lapisan warga Malaysia dalam apa jua situasi termasuk perbincangan sulit asalkan masih di dalam batasan perundangan Negara. Saya amat berterima kasih kepada Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah, Timbalan Menteri Pengajian Tinggi untuk tweetnya : “klu x terima, kita senyap jer. Hormatilah privasinya. Mcm meminang x jadi, x perlu heboh.”

2. Namun begitu, nasi telah menjadi bubur. Oleh kerana perkara tersebut telah dibawa kepada pengetahuan umum, saya boleh mengesahkan bahawa butiran perbincangan dengan DAP beberapa bulan sebelum ini adalah hampir tepat. Memandangkan ianya adalah perbincangan tidak rasmi, maka tiada minit perbincangan dicatatkan. Ingin saya nyatakan di sini, bahawa saya juga pernah dijemput untuk bertemu dan berbincang secara tidak rasmi dengan wakil-wakil parti politik yang lain.

3. Sebagaimana penulisan saya sejak lima tahun kebelakangan ini, saya amat menghormati dan mengkagumi ahli politik tanpa mengira kepartian yang berprinsip dan berkerja keras. Namun, pada pandangan saya tiada satupun parti politik pada hari ini yang mampu menyamai kejituan dan kesaksamaan visi Ayahanda Kemerdekaan yang boleh mempengaruhi saya untuk menyertai mana-mana parti.

4. Ada yang memperkatakan bahawa tidak wajar untuk putera Raja melibatkan diri di dalam parti politik. Namun, terdapat lima orang putera Raja yang telahpun berbuat demikian iaitu:

a) YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah dari Kedah (Ahli Parlimen Kuala Muda 1955-1970 dan Perdana Menteri 1957-1970; UMNO dan Semangat 46)

b) YAM Tunku Panglima Besar Tunku Abdullah ibni Tuanku Abdul Rahman dari Negeri Sembilan (Ahli Parlimen Rawang 1964-1974; UMNO)

c) YAM Tengku Sri Paduka Raja Tengku Ibrahim ibni Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah dari Terengganu (ADUN Ajil 1990-1995; Semangat 46 dan PAS)

d) YAM Tengku Dato’ Sri Azlan ibni Sultan Abu Bakar of Pahang (Ahli Parlimen Jerantut 1999-kini dan Timbalan Menteri Pengangkutan 1999-2008; Semangat 46 dan UMNO)

e) YAM Dato’ Seri DiRaja Syed Razlan Jamalullail ibni Syed Putra Jamalullail dari Perlis (Ahli Parlimen Arau 2004-2008 dan ADUN Pauh 2008-kini; UMNO)

5. Masyarakat sivil di Malaysia telah berkembang secara signifikannya beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini dan saya sendiri memang telah bergiat aktif di dalam persekitaran sebegini lama sebelum Ayahanda saya dipilih sebagai Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan Ke-11. Di dalam ruang sebeginilah saya berhasrat untuk terus menyumbang bakti terutamanya menerusi Institut Hal Ehwal Demokrasi dan Ekonomi (IDEAS) dan juga beberapa yayasan lain yang saya berkhidmat.

6. Sekian.

Kuala Lumpur, 28 Jan – I will be writing about the statement by Tunku Abdul Aziz bin Tunku Ibrahim and the response by Anthony Loke Siew Fook more fully in my usual column on Friday but for now I emphasise the following:

1. It is unfortunate that private discussions have been made public. Political parties should be able to freely engage any Malaysian citizen to discuss confidential proposals within the boundaries of the law. I am grateful to Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, for his tweet: “klu x terima, kita senyap jer. Hormatilah privasinya. Mcm meminang x jadi, x perlu heboh.”

2. However, now that this has been brought to the public domain, I can confirm that the descriptions of the contents of my conversation with the DAP some months ago are broadly accurate. As it was an informal conversation, no minutes were taken. It should be noted that I have been invited to similar informal and private conversations with representatives of other political parties as well.

3. As I have written in my articles over the past five years, I respect and admire principled and hardworking politicians regardless of the party they belong to. However, in my view, no political party today articulates the vision of our Ayahanda Kemerdekaan with sufficient conviction and consistency for me to consider joining them.

4. It has been alleged that it is improper for a child of a Ruler to participate in party politics. However, five children of Rulers have already done so, namely:

a) YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah of Kedah (MP for Kuala Muda 1955-1970 and Prime Minister 1957-1970; UMNO and Semangat 46)

b) YAM Tunku Panglima Besar Tunku Abdullah ibni Tuanku Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan (MP for Rawang 1964-1974; UMNO)

c) YAM Tengku Sri Paduka Raja Tengku Ibrahim ibni Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah of Terengganu (ADUN for Ajil 1990-1995; Semangat 46 and PAS)

d) YAM Tengku Dato’ Sri Azlan ibni Sultan Abu Bakar of Pahang (MP for Jerantut 1999-present and Deputy Minister of Transport 1999-2008; Semangat 46 and UMNO)

e) YAM Dato’ Seri DiRaja Syed Razlan Jamalullail ibni Syed Putra Jamalullail of Perlis (MP for Arau 2004-2008 and ADUN for Pauh 2008-present; UMNO)

5. Malaysian civil society space has grown significantly in the past few years, and I have long been active in that environment, since before my father was elected the eleventh Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan. It is in this space that I wish to continue to contribute, particularly through the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) and the various foundations in which I serve.

6. That is all.

IDEAS has been ranked as the fifth best new think tank in the world in
2012 by the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil
Societies Program. The ranking was released on 21 January 2013.

This is an improvement from the previous two years. In 2010 IDEAS was
ranked as the 18th best new think tank, while in 2011 we were 11th.
This achievement is a recognition from the global community that IDEAS
is making an impact in the public policy sphere despite our young age.

The Star 8 January 2012

Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) has declined the Eleaion Commission’s (EC) invitation to be one of the five local observers at the next general election due to reservations over some of the terms set.

The withdrawal has however not gone down well with one of the remaining four bodies, which hit out at TI-M for failing to register its “strong reservations” with the EC before declining the offer.

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