Kuala Lumpur, 14 February 2019 – Yesterday, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) celebrated its 9th Anniversary together with the commemoration of the 116th Birthday of the Almarhum Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra al-Haj. The theme of the event was “Future of Freedom”.
The celebration was attended by over 220 guests including the members of Almarhum Tunku’s family. They include YTM Tunku Dato’ Paduka Khadijah Tunku Abdul Rahman, YM Datin Seri Sharifah Menjalara Syed Hussin and others. Other prominent Malaysians present include former Minister and TNB Chairman, Tan Sri Leo Moggie, Kuan Kam Hon (Hartalega) Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon (Royal Selangor), Tan Sri Sheriff Kasim (G25), Tan Sri Hasmy Agam (G25), Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim (PAGE) and Cynthia Gabriel of C4.
The dinner aims to celebrate IDEAS’ achievements in the past year as well as to celebrate the life and vision of our first Prime Minister. It is also our main fundraising activity for the year. The highlights include speeches from our two guest speakers, YB Dr Ong Kian Ming, Dep. Minister of International Trade and Industry and Prof. Datuk Dr Mazlan Othman, Malaysia’s first astrophysicist who has served several roles within her country, as well as Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in Vienna. YB Dr Ong Kian Ming said in his speech “What is the Future of Freedom in Malaysia and around the world? Markets need to develop a heart, a face and a compelling narrative in order for it to survive and thrive” while Prof. Datuk Dr Mazlan spoke about the importance of shared assets of humanity like the environment that should be protected, and her views on the role of technology and its enabling effect on freedom.
Additionally, in collaboration with M&C Saatchi Malaysia, IDEAS launched the second edition of ‘Dialog: Thoughts on Tunku’s Timeless Thinking.’ Dialog, a collection of essays on Malaysia’s founding father, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj was first launched in 2017. This new edition features contributions from Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, YB Khairy Jamaluddin and Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan, among others.
IDEAS CEO, Ali Salman said “IDEAS re-affirms its commitment to continuously provide independent and well-informed analysis and advocacy to improve the quality of policy debate in Malaysia and also to keep the voters informed about the government performance.”
IDEAS would like to thank all our individual and corporate supporters for their support through all these years. Click here for full text of speech by YB Dr Ong Kian Ming.
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