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President Annual Report 2013/2014

An Overview of Activities


It is my pleasure to present to the Annual General Meeting, the Persatuan Ekonomi Malaysia (PEM) Annual Report for the year ended 31 December, 2013.

PEM’s first major activity for the year was the Bank Negara Malaysia Governor’s Address at Dewan Perdana, Bukit Kiara Equestrian & Country Resort, Kuala Lumpur, held on 21 March 2013. The Keynote Address was delivered by Dr Sukhdave Singh, the Deputy Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia. The panelists for this event were Dr. Ravi Balakrishnan, Resident Representative, IMF, Mr. Raymond Tang, Regional Chief Investment Officer, CIMB, and Prof. Dr. Ahmad Zubaidi Baharumshah, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). This year the response to the event was overwhelming, and was attended by about 200 leading bankers and corporate leaders of the industry and friends of PEM, including representatives of foreign missions in Kuala Lumpur.

The second core event was the Public Lecture on “The Measurement and Meaning of Race and Ethnicity in Malaysia: an Update” at Lecture Theatre 3, Faculty of Economics and Administration (FEA), University of Malaya, on Thursday, 2 May, 2013. The Speaker was Professor Charles Hirschman, Fulbright Visiting Professor at University of Malaya, 2012-2013. This lecture focused on the research and understanding of the changing demography of ethnic diversity in Malaysia.

The third core event was the Public Lecture “From Labor Surplus to Labor Scarcity : The Peninsular Malaysian Economy From 1970 to 2000” at Lecture Theatre 3, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, on Friday, 14 June, 2013. The Speaker was also Professor Charles Hirschman, Fulbright Visiting Professor at University of Malaya. This event focused on the components of labor supply—natural increase, immigration, retirement, and school enrollment and examined the sources of increasing labor demand with a particular focus on the manufacturing and government sectors.

Next, PEM organised a Roundtable Discussion with World Bank Group on “Is India’s Takeoff Sustainable? Analysis & Implication for Other EMEs” at Postgraduate Meeting Room, 3rd Floor, Postgraduate Building, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya on Monday, 24 June 2013. This event was headed by Dr. Kaushik Basu, Senior Vice President & Chief Economist, World Bank.

For the Public Lecture on “Market Power & Institutions: The State of Competitiveness in Malaysia’s Service Sector” at Lecture Theatre 3, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya on Tuesday, 25 June 2013, the Speaker was Professor Rajah Rasiah, who holds the Khazanah Nasional Chair of Regulatory Studies and is Professor of Technology and Innovation Policy at University of Malaya.

The sixth core event was the Public Lecture on “Ethnic Inequality in Peninsular Malaysia: 1970 to 2000” at Lecture Theatre 3, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, on Friday, 19 July, 2013 by Professor Charles Hirschman. This event focused on the ethnic inequality in occupational patterns—an understudied topic in Malaysian social science and to measure progress in reducing ethnic occupational inequality from 1970 to 2000.

The seventh core event was the Public Lecture on “The New Development Economics : The Hardware and The Software of Development” at Lecture Theatre 3, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, on Wednesday, 28 August, 2013. The Speaker was Professor Emeritus Wolfgang Kasper, Emeritus Professor of Economics and well known author. This event focused on the importance of the cultural, legal and administrative rule sets to sustain equitable economic growth.

PEM or the Malaysian Economic Association (MEA) held its 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner at Hilton Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 13 September 2013. Guest of Honor for this event was Prof. DiRaja Ungku Abdul Aziz bin Ungku Abdul Hamid. It was also graced by his daughter, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia. The organisations that sponsored this Gala Dinner were PLUS, Public Bank, Petronas, Allianz, RAM Holdings, Sunway Group, Genting Berhad, HELP University, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), University of Malaya (UM), Faculty of Economics & Administration (FEA,UM), Harvard Club of Malaysia, DC&A Group Sdn Bhd, Securities Commission Malaysia, MCMC, BPHealthcare and Nestle. There were also a few personal contributions. Prof. Ungku Aziz was clearly happy to meet many old colleagues. For the MEA, it was a great honour to celebrate its 50th anniversary with its founding members.

The ninth core event was the Seminar on “GST: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” at Lecture Theatre 3, Faculty of Economics and Administration University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 11 October 2013. This event was successfully conducted by PEM and Social Security Research Centre (SSRC), University of Malaya. The Speaker was Dr. Veerinderjeet Singh, Chairman of Taxand Malaysia Sdn Bhd. This event focused on the issues related to GST and recommendations regarding implementing GST.

Next was the 2014 Post Budget Dialogue held at Securities Commission, Persiaran Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. As in previous years, panel members spoke about the issues, strategy and approach in the Budget tabled by Minister of Finance. This year, the Keynote Address was delivered by YBhg. Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, Secretary General of Treasury, Ministry of Finance. Mr. Steven C M Wong, Deputy Chief Executive of ISIS moderated the event successfully. The panel speakers were YB Khairy Jamaluddin, Minister of Youth and Sports; Dr. Frederico Gil Sander, East Asia & Pacific, Poverty Reduction & Economis Management, World Bank (PREM); Mr. Tony Pua, Member of Parliament of Petaling Jaya Utara. While the panel speakers from the Ministry of Finance were YBhg Dato’ Siti Halimah Ismail, Under Secretary Tax Analysis Division; YBhg Dato’ Hj Rahim Abu Bakar, Director of Budget; Ybrs Tn. Hj Mohd Esa Abd Manaf, Under Secretary, Economic & International Division. This event was jointly organised by PEM and the Faculty of Economics & Administration, University of Malaya.

PEM also sent four delegates to attend the 38th Annual Conference of the Federation of the ASEAN Economic Association (FAEA), held at the School of Humanities of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore organised by the Economic Society of Singapore. The Theme was “The ASEAN Community: Integrating Sustainable Urban and Rural Development”. The Malaysian paper was presented by Professor Dr. Saadiah Mohammad on “Enhancing ASEAN Connectivity: Venturing into Islamic Finance as a New Source of Infrastructure Financing” and Dr. Nurulhuda Mohd Satar on “Sustainable Livelihoods in an Urban Setting: a framework of study for Klang Valley taxi drivers”

The Exco wishes to thank PEM members and friends for their continuing support and assistance.

A list of activities organised by the Persatuan is as listed in Annex I.

An activity of Yayasan MEA is given in Annex II.

A membership particular of the Persatuan is in Annex III.


Acknowledgements

The Persatuan wishes to express its gratitude and appreciation to the following:

  • The Dean, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, for co-organising the core activities of the Persatuan.
  • The staff of the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, for their cooperation and support.
  • All representatives of the press and media for providing publicity on the activities of the Association.
  • MJES Editorial Board and sub-committee members
  • Bank Negara Malaysia
  • The World Bank, IMF and the Asian Development Bank
  • ABM, The Association of Banks in Malaysia
  • Economic Society of Singapore (ESS)
  • Taxand Malaysia Sdn Bhd
  • Securities Commission Malaysia
  • Ministry of Finance
  • Dr. Santha Chenayah, Hon. Secretary of PEM (1 April 2008 – 18 February 2013)
  • Dr. Nurmazilah Dato’ Mahzan, Hon. Treasurer of PEM (1 April 2012 – 15 September 2013)
  • Assoc. Prof. Dr. Evelyn S. Devadason, Hon. Secretary of PEM (18 February 2013 – 30 December 2013)
  • The Persatuan also wishes to take this opportunity to welcome its new Hon. Secretary Prof. Dr. Saadiah Mohammad.
Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd. Sheriff Mohd. Kassim
President


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