Ideas Annual Report 2015

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© IDEAS 2016

Published by Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS)F4 aman unkuBukit unku50480 Kuala LumpurMalaysia

+603 6201 8896/8897F +603 6201 2001

www.ideas.org.my

Cover Imageunku Abdul Rahman’s Cabinet at itsfirst meeting on 10 September 1957.“In my time we had a Cabinet of13 Ministers. Even then they didn’t

have enough work. What they donow with 45. I don’t know.” - unku Abdul Rahman commentingon the size of the government inthe 80s which included deputiesand parliamentary secretaries in aninterview with the New Straits imes,8 February 1983.



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Pemasyhuran KemerdekaanNegara ini “akan kekal menjadisebuah Negara demokrasi

yang merdeka lagi berdaulat sertaberasaskan kebebasan

dan keadilan dan sentiasamempertahankan sertamemelihara keamanan dankemesraan umatnya danmengekalkan keamanan di antarasegala bangsa di dunia ini.”

Proclamation of IndependenceTis nation “shall be for evera sovereign democratic andindependent State founded uponthe principles of liberty and justice

and ever seeking the welfare andhappiness of its people and themaintenance of a just peace amongall nations.”

unku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj

31 August 1957



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Message from Founding President 11

Message from Founding Chief Executive 13

Corporate Profile 15

About IDEAS 16

Vision and Mission 17 Wau Bebas 18

Council Members 19

Board of Directors 23

Te eam 29

Activity Report 33

IDEAS 5th Anniversary 34

IDEAS National Unity Youth Fellowship 36 IDEAS Autism Centre 38

IDEAS Academy 39

Championing the Ideas of Liberty and Justice 40

Promoting Free Market Ideas in ASEAN 42

Advocating School Choice for Everyone 44

Campaigning for ransparency and Open Government 46

IDEAS in Numbers 49

Financial Report 53

Moving Forward 59

Donate 61

able ofContents



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What Tought Leadersand Opinion Makers

Say about IDEAS

“IDEAS has been remarkably consistent intaking well informed positions on domesticand regional issues which upholds individualliberty, government accountability andeconomic vibrancy over the past year.”

– Dr Ong Kian Ming, Member of Parliament

“IDEAS has a knack of asking challengingquestions, uncovering opaque information andpresenting clear solutions. A great teacher tothe uninitiated.” – Dzameer Dzulkifli, eachFor Malaysia

“I hope that IDEAS is really an independentinstitute and not a tool of any outsideinfluences.” – Ibrahim Ali, PertubuhanPribumi Perkasa

“IDEAS has shown clarity and depth in theissues they focus on. From one think tank toanother, I congratulate IDEAS on anothersuccessful year.” – Zairil Khir Johari, Penang

Institute

“One of IDEAS’ key strengths is its abilityto forge strong and trustworthy relationships

with its stakeholders through constructiveengagement, articulating with clarity complexand difficult issues … and most importantlyproviding solutions.” – Senator Paul LowSeng Kuan, Minister in the Prime Minister’sDepartment

“Te people of Malaysia and its regionalneighbours can be thankful for the tirelessefforts of IDEAS staff to promote the cause of

human liberty and dignity.” – Professor CrisLingle, Universidad Francisco Marroquín

“While civil society space continues to bethreatened and shrink in Malaysia, IDEAS hasshown a meteoric rise both in presence andsubstance, and has become a leading example,that has attracted advocates from across thedivide in championing a better Malaysia. It is

an honour for C4 to work with IDEAS on amyriad of programmes and issues.”– Cynthia Gabriel, Centre to CombatCorruption and Cronyism (C4)

“IDEAS, run by a few committed, dedicatedand highly disciplined people of integrity has

without fear or favour been highlighting andbringing to the fore many current topical and

contemporary issues in governance; corruption;accessible, equitable and quality education,affecting Malaysians from all walks of life.”– Dato’ Satinah Syed Saleh, KhazanahNasional



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It is depressing to have to begin this annualmessage on an even more negative tone than lastyear, when I described 2014 as being “not thebest year for our country”.

In the previous edition of this report Ilamented that “it seems that the principles thatunderpinned Merdeka are being forgotten,

even systematically destroyed, by Malaysiansthemselves. It is sad to see that on occasion,national institutions have failed to resist thisphenomenon. Tere is no greater act of treacherythan to abandon the constitutional foundationsof our nation, the consequences of which may beirreparable.”

In 2015, we have seen further attacks onkey national institutions. Te dismissals andappointments of officeholders have beenaccompanied by questions of constitutionalityand controversy; the terms of reference of severalbodies have been curtailed or ignored (the newofficeholders exhibiting particular derelictions ofduty); the powers of others have been magnified;and new legislation has been pushed through ourParliament that further threaten the separation ofpowers that our founding fathers worked so hardto write into our Constitution.

Tose who criticise these trends risk beingharassed or even arrested: the more specific theaccusations against individuals, companies andactions, the more severe the punishment. Tisnaturally has the effect of silencing those whomight otherwise be more vocal. It is also entirelyunderstandable that for millions of Malaysians,the everyday pursuits of getting by in life andfeeding a family take priority over questions ofconstitutional law and political propriety.

Tat is why at IDEAS we try to demonstrate howthe strength of our national principles affects the

lives of citizens. In every area of public policy it ispossible to identify where failures of governancehave led to inferior services and increased costsfor the rakyat . As a small think tank we cannotcomment on everything (as media enquiries

would want us to). It is in the areas of educationand governance where we have invested ourfocus, collaborating with relevant stakeholders.

We carry out research, share evidence fromother experiences, disseminate our findings inthe media and host public events to debate withothers. More generally, my colleagues and I havecontinued engaging with young Malaysians toequip them with a democratic narrative of ourcountry that many of them have deliberately notbeen exposed to.

But our most active participation with children isvia our two learning centres: the IDEAS AutismCentre and IDEAS Academy. By showing thatNGOs and the private sector can work togetherto provide high quality education for the mostdisadvantaged in society (and certainly thedemand from parents suggests we are doingsomething right), we hope that others, inparticular the Ministry of Education, mightfind in our efforts some features that might bereplicable elsewhere.

Our engagement with civil society in the regionis also continuing via Southeast Asia Networkfor Development (SEANE), for despite theself-celebration on the declaration of the ASEANCommunity, much more needs to be doneon defining this entity and giving it substancebeyond the dictates of political and diplomaticelites.

As usual I would like to thank the team at

IDEAS for working so hard in 2015, and I hopein 2016 we will make a meaningful contributionin the democratic space that is available to us.

Message fromFounding President

unku Zain Al‘Abidin uanku Muhriz



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I join unku ‘Abidin in expressingdisappointment about Malaysia’s fate in 2015.Te country is moving on a wrong trajectory.Politicians in power are pulling the countrytowards an illiberal direction.

Key institutions are being wrecked. Teirindependence destroyed. Tose with differingviews are sacked because loyalty is consideredmore important than aptitude. Religion andethnicity are used as tools for control. Ourinternational standing has been severelydamaged. Domestic reform promises are fastbeing forgotten. If things do not change, I fearthat the future looks bleak.

However, the picture is different if we focus not just on those in power but widen our scope to

look at society as a whole. Te year 2015 also sawthe civil society space blossoming to fight backagainst the rising illiberalism.

Various groups have mushroomed to voluntarilyhelp the needy. Te culture of helping and givingis spreading in our society, especially among theyounger generation. From feeding the homelessto offering free tuition classes and raising moneyto help those left out by the system, to the brave

and bold challenges against draconian actionsand unfair policies, the rakyat are fighting backagainst illiberal ideas. Some of those in powermay have lost the plot. Yet it is heartwarming tosee society reclaiming the right to shape the plotonce again.

At IDEAS we share the vision of Almarhumunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s first PrimeMinister, to see this nation forever be a nation of“liberty and justice”. With that vision in mind,I am pleased and humbled to report that we toohave tried our best to contribute as much as we

can to stop the slide. We did not expect the slideto be this fast, but we tried as much as we could.

Our focus in 2015 was on national unity,political economy and governance, andschool reform. And through our Southeast AsiaNetwork for Development (SEANE) project,

we have started to bring the voice of liberty and justice to the wider ASEAN region too. As youcan see in this report, the team has been workingtirelessly to make markets work for everyone inthose areas.

In addition to the policy research and advocacy, we continued with our proof of concept projects. Our IDEAS Autism Centre now hasa waiting list, with our teachers and therapistscommitted to creating a pathway for children

with autism to enter the mainstream schoolsystem. And our IDEAS Academy now deliversthe Cambridge curriculum that could lead toIGCSE qualification to 100 students from urbanpoor families, including from the stateless andrefugee communities. Tis is evidence that themarket can indeed deliver quality services for theneedy.

In 2014 I expressed concerns that we risk

becoming an event organiser instead of a seriouspolicy research house. I am particularly pleasedthat we have reduced the number of events that

we held from 70 in 2014 to 53 in 2015, and wehave increased the number of publications from31 in 2014 to 48 in 2015.

It is relatively easier to raise money for eventsbecause funders can see tangible evidence fromparticipant attendance and immediate presscoverage generated by an event. And indeedevents will continue to be an important part ofour work. However, the intangible impacts of

Message fromFounding Chief Executive

Wan Saiful Wan Jan



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policy papers make it challenging to raise moneyto fund research. But it is important to plant theright ideas into society if we want our society tomature healthily. o paraphrase the French writerand poet Victor Hugo, “Nothing is as powerful

as an idea whose time has come.”

Tese events and papers have helped us doubleour PR Value from RM25.2 million in 2014to RM53.34 million in 2015, which is what it

would have cost us if we had to pay for the totalcoverage received. Our team has increased in sizetoo. In 2014 we had 17 staff but now we havegrown to 23.

I am of course most grateful to our donorsand funders. Perhaps reflecting the slippage ofgovernance in the country, we saw our incomeincrease by RM1.8 million in 2014 to nearlyRM3 million in 2015. Tis may sound ironicbut I am proud that we managed to raise 70%of our income from international sources. Anyfundraiser would know that raising foreignmoney for an honest purpose from an honestdonor requires a bureaucratic process thatputs in place strong planning, monitoring and

governance processes. I hope that our fundersand Malaysians generally see the value that wegenerate through our work.

Proclamation of IndependenceTe official proclamation read

by unku Abdul Rahman at theMerdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

on 31 August 1957 which led to thecreation of a new and sovereign State



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Corporate

Profile



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Te Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, more commonly known as IDEAS, is a not-for-profit cross-partisan think tank. As a foundation ( yayasan), we are registered in Malaysia as a companylimited by guarantee with registration number 940689-W.

IDEAS was officially launched on 8 February 2010 by engku Razaleigh Hamzah, former FinanceMinister of Malaysia at the Memorial unku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur. Te event was graced bythree generations of unku Abdul Rahman’s family.

We exist to promote four principles:

Rule of Law

Limited Government Free Market

Individual Liberty and Responsibility

All our activities are geared towards encouraging people to subscribe to the principles and showing howthese principles can be applied to public policy.

HQ Address: F4, aman unkuBukit unku

50480 Kuala Lumpurel: + 60362018896

Registered address:Suite 21.02 & 0321st Floor, Menara Haw Par

Jalan Sultan Ismail50480 Kuala Lumpur

AboutIDEAS

Date of incorporation:15 April 2011

Auditor:Roger Yue, an & Associates

Wisma Goshen (Ground & 1st Floor)No 60 & 62, Jalan SS 22/21Damansara Jaya 47400 Petaling Jaya Selangor



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IDEAS shares the vision of unku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj,the first Prime Minister who stated in the 1957 Proclamation of Independence:

“Tis nation shall be for ever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfareand happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among allnations.”

Te mission of IDEAS isto improve the level of understanding and acceptance of public policy based onthe principles of rule of law, limited government, free markets and individualliberty

In order to fulfill this mission, IDEAS on a cross-partisan basis:

• commissions research to develop market-based solutions to public policy challenges

• publishes relevant materials such as books, policy briefings, articles and press statements

• organises educational programmes on the creative power of free societies and the institutions which underpin them

• holds frank discussions with policymakers, academics, members of civil society,the business community and other professionals

• enables and facilitates networking between like-minded individuals

• provides a platform for people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds to advance the ideals ofliberty and justice espoused in the Proclamation of Independence and the Federal Constitution

Vision& Mission



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IDEAS’ logo is a wau bulan that flies freely inthe sky - which we call “Wau Bebas” or the Kiteof Freedom. Te traditional Wau Bebas motifsymbolises IDEAS’ belief that the principlesof Rule of Law (Kedaulatan Undang-Undang),Limited Government (Kerajaan erhad), Free

Markets (Pasaran Bebas ) and Free Individuals(Individu Merdeka) are deeply rooted in ournation’s traditions and heritage.

Our task is to rediscover these truly Malaysianvalues and to represent them to contemporaryMalaysian society, so that our heritage will helpus prosper in a globalised world. A wau is onlycomplete and functional when it is rooted tothe ground via a string, depicting our call for

abidance to the rule of law within a small, limitedstate.

Wau Bebas

unku Abdul Rahman’s Desk

Te work of building a nation never ends:unku Abdul Rahman’s working desk

and official files



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Council

Members

“If we pull together and worktogether with the maximum ofgoodwill and harmony, there is

no limit to what our people canachieve in the years to come.”– unku Abdul Rahman at the opening of

unku Abdul Rahman Park, 20 April 1958



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YM unku Dato’ Seri Ahmad Nerang ibni Almarhumunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-HajSpecial Advisor

un Mohamed Dzaiddin Haji AbdullahChairmanConsultant, Skrine; Former Chief Justice of Malaysia;Chairman of un Suffian Foundation

an Sri ony FernandesGroup Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of AirAsia

Berhad; Founder of une Group Sdn Bhd

an Sri Dato’ Dr Mohd Munir Abdul MajidChairman of Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad; Chairman of ASEAN

Business Advisory Council; rustee of PINAR Foundation andMalaysia-Europe Forum

Council Members



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an Sri Dr Rebecca Sta Maria Secretary General of the Ministry of International rade & Industry

Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak Chairman / Board Member of CIMB Group;Board Member of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Malaysia

Datuk Seri Azman UjangFormer General Manager, Malaysian National News Agency(BERNAMA); Board Member of Berjaya Media Berhad

Dato’ Anthony CooperFormer Senior Partner, Price Waterhouse Malaysia;Governor of inggi Foundation and A&A Charitable rust,

Chairman of Te British Malaysian Society



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Dr Anis Yusal Yusoff President of Te Malaysian Institute of Integrity

Dr Ong Kian Ming

Member of Parliament Democratic Action Party (DAP), Serdang;Selangor DAP State Committee Member

Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa

Member of Parliament Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), Parit Buntar; Amanah Central Committee Member

Dato’ Saifuddin AbdullahFormer Deputy Minister of Higher Education

Khalid JaafarExecutive Director of Institute for Policy Research;

Selangor Parti Keadilan Rakyat Director of Strategy



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“We are all Malaysians.Tis is the bond that

unites us. Let us alwaysremember that unity is ourfundamental strength as a

people and as a nation.”

- unku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj

Board of Directors



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unku Zain Al‘Abidinuanku Muhriz

Board of Directors

unku ‘Abidin is a trustee of Yayasan Chow Kit, Yayasan Munarah, the Jeffrey Cheah Foundationand the Genovasi Foundation; an independent non-executive director of two public listed companies; anadvisor or patron to numerous educational and culturalorganisations and a committee member of several

societies. He was educated at the Kuala Lumpur Alice SmithSchool, Marlborough College and the London Schoolof Economics and Political Science, where he obtainedhis MSc in Comparative Politics in 2004. He then

worked in the UK Houses of Parliament before movingto Washington DC to join the World Bank as a PublicSector Consultant. Upon returning to Malaysia in2008, unku ‘Abidin worked at the United Nations

Development Programme and the KRA Group beforebecoming a Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew Schoolof Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

In 2006 he co-founded the Malaysia Tink ank whichevolved into the Institute for Democracy and Economic

Affairs (IDEAS) in 2010. Since 2008 he has been acolumnist in several newspapers: firstly Abiding imesin the Sun, then Roaming Beyond the Fence in the Starand Sin Chew, and now Conservatively Speaking Freelyin the Malay Mail, Borneo Post and Oriental Daily.From these articles three books have been compiled, thelatest being nominated for the Popular Readers’ Choice

Awards. unku ‘Abidin also authored a coffee table bookfor the Installation of the Eleventh Yang di-Pertuan Besarof Negeri Sembilan and led a major project to revitalisethe State Anthem.

An Eisenhower Fellow, he has been selected for variousleadership programmes by the governments of Australia,France and the European Union. He has been recognised

with the Rotary Young Integrity Award in 2013 and theop 10 Most Impactful Young Leaders Award in 2015,among others.



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Dato’ Dr R Tillainathan

Board of Directors

Dato’ Tillainathan sits on the Board of Directorsof University Malaya, Citibank Malaysia Berhad,Genting Berhad and Allianz Malaysia Berhad. He

was previously, among others, a board memberof the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (nowknown as Bursa Malaysia), Petronas Dagangan

Berhad and Genting Berhad. He was also theChief Operating Officer of Genting Berhadfrom November 2002 to September 2006. Hehas served on the National Economic Panel, the

Anti-Recession ask Force, the ask Force onCapital Market Development, the InvestmentPanel of Employees Provident Fund and was amember of the National Economic ConsultativeCouncil’s Working Group.

Dato’ Dr. Tillainathan is also a former Presidentof the Malaysian Economic Association and was amember of the ax Review Panel of the Ministryof Finance.



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Christopher Leong

Board of Directors

Christopher Leong is an advocate and solicitor ofthe High Court of Malaya of more than 25 yearsstanding, and is the Managing Partner of Chooi &Company. Christopher has extensive experience inthe fields of corporate and commercial litigation,

shareholders’ disputes, banking litigation andinsolvency. Additionally, he practices in the area ofconstitutional and administrative law.

In the field of dispute resolution, Christopherhas been named as a Leading Individual/Lawyerin Malaysia by Asia Pacific Legal 500 since 2004,Chambers Asia since 2009, by Te Asialaw LeadingLawyer since 2008, and is a RecommendedIndividual in the 2015 edition of Asialaw Profiles.He is also named in the 2014 edition of Benchmark

Asia Pacific as a Local Disputes Star, and is listed asone of the World’s Leading Litigation and ProductLiability Lawyers in the Expert Guides, 2012edition.

Christopher is the 30th President, and theimmediate past President, of the Malaysian Bar andthe immediate past Chairman of the Bar Council ofMalaysia. He is also the Vice President of LAWASIA,the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific, and

a member of the editorial advisory board of AllMalaysia Commercial Reports published by Sweet &Maxwell Asia.

Christopher graduated with a Bachelor of Artsdegree, majoring in economics and philosophyin 1984 from Monash University, Australia,and completed reading law at the University ofNottingham in 1988. He was called to the Bar ofEngland and Wales in 1989 and was admitted as an

advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malayain 1990.



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Wan Mohd Firdaus Wan Mohd Fuaad

Board of Directors

Wan Firdaus is currently Vice President at JP Morgan-Chase Bank Malaysia. He waseducated at SRK Sultan Ibrahim Satu Pasir Mas,SRK Sri Subang Jaya and Sekolah Menengah

Agama Persekutuan Kajang. He then went to

read law at the University of Nottingham andBPP University Law School.

Previously, he was Special Officer to the ChiefMinister of Johor handling the corporateportfolio that includes Iskandar RegionalDevelopment Authority and Johor Corporation.He is also founder of the Young CorporateMalaysians and established the annual YoungCorporate Malaysians Summit.

He was a national delegate for the University ofNottingham to the National Union of Students(NUS), national executive member of Federationof Islamic Students Societies (FOSIS), Chairmanof Kesatuan Penuntut Undang-Undang MalaysiaUK & Eire (KPUM) and former Chairmanof UK & Eire Council for Malaysia Students(UKEC) from October 2005 to 2007. While he

was a chairman of the UKEC, he established thefirst Malaysian Student Leaders Summit (MSLS)

that has become a major national event.



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Wan Saiful Wan Jan

Board of Directors

Wan Saiful Wan Jan is Chief Executive of theInstitute for Democracy and Economic Affairs.Heis also Director of the Southeast Asia Network forDevelopment (www.seanetwork.asia) and Chairmanof the Istanbul Network for Liberty (www.

istanbulnetwork.org). Additionally, he is a memberof the Advisory Board at Laureate InternationalMalaysia; member of the Advisory Board of theUniversity of Nottingham’s School of Politics,History and International Relations; a Governorat Rafflesia Education Group; and Chairman ofIDEAS Academy, a not for profit learning centrefor stateless and refugee children in Kuala Lumpur.In August 2015, he was appointed as a memberof the National Consultative Committee onPolitical Financing, following the Prime Minister’sannouncement to set up the group.

He lived in the United Kingdom between August 1993 and October 2009. Tere he servedseveral organisations, including the think tankCommonwealth Policy Studies Unit, the BritishConservative Party’s Research Department, andSocial Enterprise London. He is now a columnistfor two national newspapers: Te Star and Sin ChewDaily. He also writes for several other national and

regional press. His opinions have been quoted byvarious media, including the BBC, Reuters, Asian

Wall Street Journal, International Herald ribune, Al-Jazeera, Bloomberg and Te Economist.



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Te eamIDEAS & SEANE Fellows

Dr Razeen Sally IDEAS Chair in PoliticalEconomy & Governance

Philip Stevens

SEANE Fellow

Dr Carmelo FerlitoIDEAS Senior Fellow

Bienvenido “Nonoy” Oplas, Jr.

SEANE Fellow

Dr Maszlee Malik IDEAS Senior Fellow



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Te eam

Back row (left to right)

Mohd Safrizal SudinDriver

Shaza OnnSenior Researcher, Political Economy and Governance

Sheefa AhmadSenior Executive, Operations

Azrul Khalib Manager, External Relations

Ahmad Bashier AfifiExecutive, Operations

Yohannan NairExecutive, Outreach & SEANE

aufiq AbdulExecutive, Special Projects

Amir Ridzuan JamaluddinSenior Executive, Outreach & SEANE

Front row (left to right)

Sri Murniati Manager, Political Economy and Governance

Wan Saiful Wan JanChief Executive Officer

ricia YeohChief Operating Officer

amanna PatelSenior Researcher, Education

Fareeza Ibrahim Manager, Outreach & SEANE

Mazrina ArifinFinance Director



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Te eam

(left to right)

Julitan Selamat General Worker, IDEAS Autism Centre

Nur Suhara Suhadi eacher, IDEAS Autism Centre

Wan Fara Adila Wan Ahmad Kaspi Occupational Terapist, IDEAS Autism Centre Dayana Hamdan eacher, IDEAS Autism Centre

Mazlianah Mahmud eacher, IDEAS Autism Centre

Sharifah Salleh Principal, IDEAS Autism Centre

Nur Munirah Ramli Vice Principal, IDEAS Autism Centre

Fadhilah Mohamad Yusof eacher, IDEAS Autism Centre

Norsida Razali eacher, IDEAS Autism Centre

Robi Ishak eacher, IDEAS Autism Centre



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Te Declaration Desk Te desk used by Prime Minister unku

Abdul Rahman during the Declaration ofIndependence on 31 August 1957



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“We must each always think

first of Malaysia, of thenational need and least ofourselves... everyone must

try to help and see that thepeople are one minded,

with loyalty and one aim tomake Malaysia – the land we

love – a happy abode for allof us. If we do all this then

we can guarantee liberty,security, prosperity and

happiness for the future.”- unku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj

Activity

Report



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We started 2015 with the celebration of our 5thanniversary on 7 February 2015. Te celebration

was held at the unku Abdul Rahman Memorial

in conjunction with the birthday of unku AbdulRahman Putra Al-Haj, Malaysia’s first PrimeMinister.

Almost 250 invited guests attended the event,including unku Besar Seri Menanti unku

Ali Redhauddin ibni uanku Muhriz and thechildren of Almarhum unku Abdul Rahman,

YM unku Dato’ Paduka Khadijah and YMunku Dato’ Seri Ahmad Nerang.

We were privileged this year to feature YM DatinSharifah Menyalara who delivered a touchingand heartwarming speech in memory of hergrandfather, Almarhum unku Abdul Rahman.Te keynote speech titled ‘Malaysia : EconomicFreedom and Globalisation’ was delivered

by IDEAS Chair of Political Economy andGovernance, Dr Razeen Sally.

Te panel discussion moderated by our CEO Wan Saiful Wan Jan featured MP for Pulai,Datuk Nur Jazlan Muhammad, NationalUniversity of Malaysia's (UKM) AssociateProfessor Dr Sufian Jusoh and G25 spokespersonDatuk Noor Farida Ariffin. Te theme was“Where is the leadership?” and the paneldiscussed the need for Malaysia to embraceliberal values, in both the political and economicspheres.

Tis year’s anniversary event also saw theannouncement of 21 National Unity YouthFellows who were selected to participate in arigorous nine month training programme tochampion moderation and national unity asenvisioned by the Rukun Negara .

IDEAS5th Anniversary

National Unity Youth Fellows posing with IDEAS President unku Zain Al-‘Abidin uanku Muhriz, 7 February 2015



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Panel Session with Dr Razeen Sally, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, MP for Pulai; Dr. Sufian Jusoh, Associate Professor, UKM and Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin, G25, 7 February 2015

Guests at IDEAS’ 5th Anniversary Celebration

unku Dato’ Paduka Khadijah and unku Dato’Seri Ahmad Nerang commemorating unku AbdulRahman Putra’s birthday accompanied by unku AliRedhauddin uanku Muhriz, unku Zain Al‘Abidinuanku Muhriz and un Mohamed Dzaiddin Haji Abdullah, 7 February 2015



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In recent years, there has been a rise of illiberaldivisive voices within Malaysia. o counterthis, we introduced the National Unity Youth

Fellowship (NUYF) to remind Malaysians thatnational unity has always been a cornerstone ofMalaysia’s foundation.

Trough a competitive selection process, we selected 21 outstanding youth leaders toparticipate in the inaugural NUYF. Over thecourse of eight months, the Youth Fellowsattended workshops and community engagementactivities in Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Sarawak,Sabah, Kelantan, Selangor, erengganu, Negeri

Sembilan and Melaka.

Troughout the programme, participants had theopportunity to meet and discuss with politicalleaders, non-governmental organisations andlocal communities on issues related to nationalunity.

Te highlight of the programme was a conferenceorganised by the Youth Fellows entitled “Nation-Building, Unity and the Malaysian Dream :

Yesterday, oday and omorrow”. Te event wasofficiated by YBM an Sri engku RazaleighHamzah, former Malaysian Minister of Finance.

Te NUYF was organised in collaboration with the Department of National Unity andIntegration, the Malaysian Institute of Integrity,the Negaraku People’s Movement and theMerdeka Centre for Opinion Research.

IDEASNational Unity

Youth Fellowship

Workshop for National Unity Youth Fellows, 15 August 2015

YBM engku Razaleigh Hamzah giving the keynote speechat the conference organised by the Youth Fellows entitled“Nation Building, Unity and the Malaysian Dream :Yesterday, oday and omorrow”, 16 September 2015



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Youth Fellows posing with IDEAS’ Chief Operating Officer, ricia Yeoh and Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah after the graduation ceremony, 16 September 2015

Launch of the National Unity Youth Fellows’ Declaration by YBM engku Razaleigh Hamzah, 16 September 2015



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Te IDEAS Autism Centre provides earlyintervention, care and education for autisticchildren aged 3-9 from low income households.Te IAC was started in October 2012 and is

located in Rawang, Selangor. We now cater for31 students.

Te IAC’s early intervention programme hasbeen successful in enabling our students to getinto the mainstream school system. en of ourstudents have been accepted into mainstreamschools and we expect more to do so in 2016.

Tis year the IAC made media appearances in

Te Star, IKIM FM and Capital FM to educatethe public on autism and the challenges faced byparents and caretakers of children with autism.Te education unit within IDEAS also wrotetwo papers that focuses on life with autism andprogress after early intervention.

We received support from Sime DarbyFoundation, Hong Leong Foundation, YayasanSiti Sapura and the A&A Charitable rust.

Our main priority is to build a fund to continueIAC’s sustainability in the longer term, as well asto develop enterprising ways to generate revenue.

For more information, please visithttp://www.autism.ideas.org.my/

IDEAS Autism Centre

Students from the IAC undergoing hydrotherapy, 20 May 2015

IAC Sports Day, 23 May 2015



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IDEAS Academy is another proof of conceptproject to show that it is possible to providehigh quality education to the underprivilegedat a lower cost. It is a secondary learning centre

offering the Cambridge curricullum that couldlead to the IGCSE qualification. It is located inPudu, Kuala Lumpur; and we have 100 studentsfrom the urban poor families, including fromthe shelters and refugee communities. We runthis project with the Netherland’s Young RefugeeCause Foundation through IDEAS Academy SdnBhd, a company that is equally owned by bothorganisations.

In June 2015, the Academy moved to a newpremise which will be able to fit up to 300students. Students only pay a nominal fee, whilethe bulk of the cost is paid for by grants fromgenerous donors.

For more information, visithttp://www.ideasacademy.org.my/

Students of the IDEAS Academy

Snapshot of the activities at IDEAS Academy

IDEAS Academy



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We continued advocating for the ideas of libertyand justice by organising various events anddiscussions. In total, we held 53 events in 2015.

On 19 September 2015 we hosted “TeLiberalism Conference : rends, Challengesand Future Prospects”. Speakers included KasitPiromya, Former Tai Foreign Minister; Ustaz

Abdullah Zaik, President of Ikatan MusliminMalaysia (ISMA); Dr Patricia Martinez,Christian Federation of Malaysia (CMM); andDato’ Charon Wardini Mokhzani, ExecutiveDirector of Khazanah Research Institute (KRI).Discussions centred on framing the discourseof liberalism in Southeast Asia with specific

mentions on the relationship between liberalism,

religion and nationalism. Te conference wasattended by over 100 participants from diversebackgrounds. Tis was a unique venture asit brought together those who have opinionson liberalism including organisations such asthe Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) andPertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa (PERKASA).

On 4 July 2015, we hosted Dr Juli Minoves,President of Liberal International at a forumentitled “Is Malaysia ready for a liberal politicalparty?” Te forum saw an attendance of over70 individuals who were there to understand ifideological parties would ever be able to compete

with current political parties in Malaysia.

ChampioningTe Ideas of Liberty

and Justice

Panel session discussing liberalism and faith at the IDEAS Liberalism Conference, 19 September 2015



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We also hosted Mmusi Maimane, FederalLeader of the Democratic Alliance of South

Africa at a forum titled “Liberalism as a forceagainst racism: Te South African experience.”Te well attended event saw a packed hall anda rousing discussion on race relations in bothSouth Africa and Malaysia as well as whetherliberalism can improve it.

Due to popular demand, we continuedorganising in-depth classes based on thephilosophy of classical liberalism in Malaysiathrough the IDEAS Masterclass Series. Tree

masterclasses were organised: (1) Introductionto Classical Liberalism, (2) Liberalism andEducation (3) Liberalism and EconomicDevelopment. In total, we had 84 studentsparticipating in the classes with lecturers fromInternational Islamic University of Malaysia,University of Nottingham Malaysia Campusand the India Institute, New Delhi.

Public Forum “Is Malaysia ready for a liberal political party?” Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Moritz Kleine-Brockhoff(Friedrich Naumann Foundation), Juli Minoves (President, Liberal International), unku Zain Al-‘Abidin uanku Muhriz, Dr Dzulkefli Ahmad (former CEO of PAS Research Centre) and Khalid Jaafar (Executive Director of InstitutKajian Dasar), 4 July 2015

Mmusi Maimane, Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance of South Africa and Dr Lee Hwok Aun ofUniversity Malaya at a forum titled “Liberalism as a forceagainst racism : Te South African experience”, 3 December 2015

Dr Carmelo Ferlito, IDEAS Senior Fellow, at IDEASLiberalism Masterclass discussing the Austrian School ofEconomics, 20 August 2015



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We were also active in promoting free market

ideas in the ASEAN region through ourplatform, the Southeast Asia Network forDevelopment (SEANE). SEANE’s principlesin promoting property rights, ensuring inclusivedevelopment and growth and encouraging freetrade were highlighted through events and policypapers released this year.

On 6 May 2015, we hosted United States (US)rade Representative Ambassador MichaelFroman in a public discussion titled “A specialdiscussion on the rans-Pacific Partnership”. Teevent was well attended and had heavy mediapresence due to the trade pact being in the finalstages of negotiations.

With Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN this

year, we hosted a workshop at the ASEANPeople’s Forum on 23 April 2015 titled “Willgreater economic liberalisation actually helpthe poor in ASEAN?” Speakers at this sessionincluded Professor Cris Lingle of UniversidadFrancisco Marroquin, Datuk RavindranPalaniappan from the Malaysian Ministry ofInternational rade and Industry, and NonoyOplas, SEANE Fellow.

A number of events and meetings were alsoconvened in Singapore and Tailand throughoutthis period.

PromotingFree Market Ideas

in ASEAN

Special discussion on the PP with Wan Saiful Wan Jan, US rade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman,an Sri Munir Majid (Chairman, Bank Muamalat) and Nurhisham Hussein (General Manager, Economics andCapital Markets at the Employees Provident Fund), 6 May 2015



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Workshop on economic liberalisationat the ASEAN People’s Forum withProfessor Cris Lingle of UniversidadFrancisco Marroquin, DatukRavindran Palaniappan of Ministryof rade and Industry (MII) andNonoy Oplas, SEANE Fellow, 23 April 2015

Seminar on Intellectual Property Property Rights in Singapore featuring Lorenzo Montanari (Executive Director ofProperty Rights Alliance), Professor Sary Levy-Carciente (Professor of Economics at Universidad Central de Venezuelaand Author of the 2015 IPRI), Chew Phye Keat (President of ASEAN IP Association) and Soh Kar Liang (Member ofLegislative & Regulation Committee, International rademark Association (INA) on 19 November 2015

A public forum titled “Intellectual Propertyand Growth: What must Singapore do to be

the global hub of Asia?” was well attended byrepresentatives from industry and academia.Meetings were also convened with Singaporeanpublic officials of the Ministry of Health, HealthPromotion Board and the Intellectual PropertyOffice.

SEANE also hosted our first Visiting FellowProfessor Sinclair Richardson of the RoyalMelbourne Institute for echnology (RMI) to

conduct work on IP protection.

SEANE and the Property Rights Alliance(PRA) collaborated to host the global launch ofthe 2015 International Property Rights Index(IPRI) on 16 November 2015. Similar launchevents were organised in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkokand Singapore for this purpose. Te launch inKuala Lumpur featured a forum on “Te PPA,economic growth and protection of intellectualproperty rights.”



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Te majority of Malaysians are confined to the

government school system, where there is verylimited choice in the type of schools children canbe sent to. School choice is limited to students

whose families are privileged enough to affordprivate education. We strongly advocate for theidea that choice should be available to everyoneregardless of social status.

Tis year, the Education unit began its Education

Public Event Series on Choice and Autonomy with the event ‘Should the government takeover your role as parents?’ on 12 February2015. It was a robust discussion about the roleof school vouchers and how they could benefitpoor households. Tis event received a lot ofmedia coverage and many follow-up enquiriessuggesting good public support for the idea.

Advocating School Choicefor Everyone

Public forum“Should education be free?” 9 May 2015



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Our focus in this area for 2015 was to influencepublic opinion on the benefits of a rules-

based trading system, improving transparencyin public-private partnerships and politicalfinancing, boosting the independence of theMalaysian Anti-Corruption Commission(MACC), improving transparency andaccountability in the budget cycle and raisingawareness on the Open Government Partnershipas one of the main international platforms fortransparency.

IDEAS continued to benefit from the guidanceof our Chair of Political Economy andGovernance, Dr. Razeen Sally, a prominentexpert on international trade policy who is alsoDirector and Co-Founder of the EuropeanCentre for International Political Economy(ECIPE) and Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan

Yew School of Public Policy.

As part of our efforts to strengthen theeffectiveness of the MACC, we worked in

collaboration with ransparency InternationalMalaysia, Centre to Combat Corruption andCronyism (C4) and the Citizens’ Network for aBetter Malaysia (CNBM) to develop proposalsfor the structural reform of the anti-corruptionbody.

We conducted events to raise awareness on ourproposal to reform the MACC together withother civil society partners. Tese events are

intended to gain input and support from keystakeholders and the public in general on theintended reforms.

We played a key role in the formation of theGIA (Governance, Integrity, Accountability andransparency) coalition, which among others,promotes the Open Government Partnership.

Campaigning forransparency and

Open Government

Public forum on“Can MACC beindependent?”with IDEAS COO

ricia Yeoh andBoard MemberChristopher Leong,4 March 2015



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Trough its first event, GIA created adiscussion on the strengths and weaknesses

of the current open data initiatives by theMalaysian government. Of particular emphasis was the need to highlight and recognise thebenefits of open data for the purposes ofimproving good governance, strengthening civicengagement and encouraging economic growth.

September saw the unveiling of the results fromthe 2015 Open Budget Survey by IDEAS.Te Open Budget survey is part of the OpenBudget Initiative, a global initiative to promote

public access to budget information and theadoption of accountable budget systems. Tesurvey which was administered by IDEAS thisyear, is designed as a tool to analyse the level ofbudget information that governments provideits citizens, the level of participation given tocitizens in the national budget process as wellas the level of independence and the capacity ofoversight bodies.

Victoria readell, British High Commissioner to Malaysia giving the opening speech at the Open Government

Partnership Seminar, 18 August 2015

Launch of the Open Budget Survey, 10 September 2015

Seminar on "Te PP: Will the US BullyUs?" featuring the Mexican Ambassadorof Malaysia as well as respected economists

from Vietnam and Indonesia



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IDEAS

in Numbers



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IDEAS Events and Outreach Activities

2014 2015

Student Outreach 19 11Seminars & Workshops 47 38Events held overseas 4 4

OAL 70 53

IDEAS Publications

2014 2015Book 1 0Policy Papers 10 10Press Statements 20 38

OAL 31 48

IDEAS Media Appearances 2014 2015

Opinion Articles 110 111Print Media Coverage 546 747V and Radio Appearances 19 76

otal PR Value RM 25.2 Million RM 53.34 Million (USD 8.4 million) (USD 12.4 million)

*average exchange rate in 2014 *average exchange rate in 2015

IDEAS in Numbers



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Newpaper Clips



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Financial

Report



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Fundraising for an independent think tankis certainly not easy. In particular, it has beenchallenging to search for funds to pay for corecosts like salaries and office overheads becausemost funders only fund direct project costs.

We are really grateful for the support we havereceived from generous local and internationaldonors. Some have supported us since our earlydays, and without them we would not be ableto produce any of our achievements. We havemanaged to increase the number of our local

funders. We hope this reflects the trust thatfunders have in the quality of work and theimpact that we can produce.

Of course we are not complacent. In order to

do more work, and to do it better, we mustcontinue to attract more grants and donations.

We particularly look forward to working moreclosely with local funders, as we believe that thereare many Malaysians who believe in the need torevive the values of liberty and justice.

FINANCIALREPOR

Some of our op 2015 Funders:

1. British High Commission RM 509,986

2. Yayasan Sime Darby RM 457,481

3. A&A Charitable rust RM 398,833

4. International Republican Institute RM 316,071

5. Atlas Economic Research Foundation RM 255,628

6. Yayasan Siti Sapura Husin RM 200,000

7. Friedrich Naumann Foundation RM 151,517



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Income & Expenditure

INCOME BY SOURCE (RM) 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015**

Malaysian Sources 196,249 731,147 626,552 831,236 897,463International Sources 169,404 514,178 1,111,808 1,028,260 2,060,078

OAL** 365,653 1,245,325 1,738,360 1,859,496 2,957,541

EXPENDIURE (RM) 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015**

Salaries & Staff Costs 230,507 374,610 405,427 249,564 579,023

Premises & Overheads 43,077 46,495 45,441 63,484 168,286Operations 59,451 67,880 276,454 422,368 256,663Direct Project Cost - Education 52,575 240,096 103,830 104,486 115,187Direct Project Cost - Governance 15,935 102,711 55,815 157,842 259,154Direct Project Cost - Events & Outreach 122,979 216,886 84,572 257,225 177,686Direct Project Cost - SEANE - - - - 344,188Direct Project Cost - IDEAS Autism Centre - 178,563 362,017 516,028 768,691Direct Project Cost - IDEAS Academy - - - 26,817 33,097Direct Project Cost - National Unity - - - - 210,335One-off Projects - - 406,772 49,130 29,513

OAL** 524,524 1,227,241 1,740,328 1,846,944 2,941,823

OAL (RM) 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015**

otal Income** 365,653 1,245,325 1,738,360 1,859,496 2,957,541otal Expenditure** 524,524 1,227,241 1,740,328 1,846,944 2,941,823

Surplus/(Deficit) (158,871) 18,084 (1,968) 12,552 15,718

* otals may vary due to rounding of figures* Figures for 2015 are not yet audited at the time of printing



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SOURCES Amount (RM) %

International Sources 2,060,078 70%

Malaysian Sources 897,463 30%

otal 2,957,541 100%

Income



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Total Expenditure 2011-2015

Salaries & Staff Costs

Direct Project Costs

65%20%

9%6%

Premises & OverheadsOperations

3,500,000

3,000,000

2,500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

0

2011

RM 524,524

2012

RM 1,227,241

2013

RM 1,740,328

2014

RM 1,846,944

2015**

RM 2,941,823

Salaries &Staff Costs

Direct Project Costs

Premises &Overheads

Operations

EXPENDIURES Amount (RM) %

Direct Project Costs 1,937,851 65%

Salaries & Staff Costs 579,023 20%

Operations 256,663 9%

Premises & Overheads 168,286 6%

otal 2,941,823 100%

Expenditure



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Moving

Forward



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Te depressing political climate of 2015 makesour work even more important as we step into2016 and closer to the next round of General

Elections. We have achieved a lot in 2015.Moving forward we must do more.

Te governance challenges faced by the countryare too many to list here. Of course we cannot

work on all areas, as our resources are limited. We will continue working in the fields ofgovernance, economic liberalisation and education reform.

In particular we hope to focus on the followingissues. First is to strengthen the fight againstcorruption. We will continue to advocate forthe Malaysian Anti Corruption Commissionto be reformed and upgraded. We will alsoexamine the potential reforms of the AttorneyGeneral’s Chambers to ensure there is no conflictof interest when making decisions to prosecute.

And through our Chief Executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan appointment into the NationalConsultative Committee on Political Funding

we will help shape policies around politicalfinancing too.

Second is on economic liberalisation. Tose inpower may have forgotten the New EconomicModel (NEM) that was launched in 2010 butit does have many good ideas. We would like tosee the economy becoming more rules-based,less discriminatory, and better integrated intothe global value chain. Tis requires not just

the right policies but also a major reshaping ofpublic opinion, especially after decades of statistpropaganda.

National unity is another issue that we will work on. It is not easy to identify a policy that would “unite” Malaysians. Some attempts in

the past have resulted in more division instead. A question that we need to answer is what isthe liberal approach to fostering harmony in adiverse society?

We will continue with our venture into the ASEAN region through our SEANE initiative.Especially now that the ASEAN EconomicCommunity (AEC) has been launched, there is aneed to inject market-based ideas into ASEAN

to ensure inclusive growth in a market-friendlyenvironment.

We have started the process of improvingour internal governance by appointing newindependent non-executive directors to ourBoard. Tere are more steps that we will takein 2016 to improve the way we run IDEAS inorder to guarantee maximum value from donors’money and at the same time maintain publictrust in our work and our brand.

Finally, we are also looking at better mechanismsto ensure continuous professional developmentof our staff . We are lucky to have a young,passionate and highly educated team. Tey arehungry to make a difference to the country andthey work tirelessly to realise our vision. We willdevelop ways to reward high performers and toprovide upskilling opportunities for the wholeteam.

Moving Forward



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If you like the work that we do, please supportus financially. We cannot survive without yourfinancial assistance.

o donate from Malaysia, you can transfer to:CIMB account number 800 136 7104 Swift Code: CIBBMYKL or send a cheque payable to “IDEAS Berhad”

If you would like to donate via paypal you cansend payment to [email protected] Our merchant account ID is

YGG9RKVPWBUV4

If you are in the United Kingdom, IDEAS isregistered with the Charities Aid Foundation(www.cafonline.org) and you can make your

donation to us through CAF if you have aCAF account. If you are a UK taxpayer, CAFcan claim the tax through Gift Aid, therebyincreasing the amount that reaches us from yourdonation. Please contact us via email [email protected] if you would like to donatevia CAF.

If you are in the United States of America, wehave a partnership with the Atlas Economic

Research Foundation. Atlas is a 501(c)(3)nonprofit organisation that is consistently givena four-star rating by Charity Navigator andis recognised as a Guidestar Exchange ValuedPartner for its financial transparency. Pleasecontact us via email at [email protected] if you would like to donate via Atlas.

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Documents

Ideas Annual Report 2015