An Overview of Activities for the Year 2016

It is my pleasure to present to the Annual General Meeting, the Malaysian Economic Association (MEA) Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2016.

MEA’s first activity for the year was the 2016 TPPA Forum held on 11 January 2016 at the Securities Commission, Jalan Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. The TTPA provided (forum) a platform for one of the Senior Member of Malaysia’s TPPA negotiating team from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MIT) to highlight the key issues in the TPPA to participants in the forum.

Like in previous years, the MEA held the BNM Governor’s Address on the Malaysian Economy & Panel Discussion after the release of the 2015 Bank Negara Annual Report on 23 March 2016 at the Securities Commission, Jalan Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. The deputy Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Dr. Sukhdave Sigh delivered his keynote address. The panel speakers invited were Mr. Faris Hadad, the World Bank Country Manager, Malaysia, En. Nurhisham Hussein, Chief Economist of the Employees Provident Fund, Kuala Lumpur and Mr. Edward Lee, Head of ASEAN Research, Standard Chartered, Singapore. The panelists discussed some of the issues arising from the report. The response to the event was overwhelming. There were about 200 participants attended the event which comprised leading bankers, industrial corporate leaders, government official, representatives of foreign missions in Kuala Lumpur, NGOs, academicians, and members of PEM.

Following the Bank Negara Malaysia Governor’s Address, the MEA had its 53rd Annual General Meeting on the same day. The meeting was followed by the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 14 April 2016 at the Bilik Mesyuarat Yayasan MEA, Faculty of Economics & Administration, University Malaya. The extraordinary meeting elected the Executive Committee for the term 2016-2018. Tan Sri Sulaiman Mahbob was elected as the new elected President and Dato’ Latifah Merican as the new elected Deputy President.

The third event was a Forum on National Economic Governance: Role of Parliamentary Committees which was held on 11th August 2016 at the Kuala Lumpur Gold and Country Club (KLGCC), Kuala Lumpur. The forum on national economic governance was considered as a high-profile event. Experts invited to talk were Members of Parliaments from the UK, Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. This was the first event to show case the significant and critical role of a national economic governance framework in exercising the institutional oversight to ensure all parts of government will exercise its appropriate governance that have been critical to implementation of economic and financial policies by all relevant institutions.

Next, the last event held in this year was the 2017 Post-Budget Dialogue held on 24 October 2016 at the Sasana Kijang, Bank Negara Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. The Post-Budget Dialogue was held in conjunction with the 2017 Budget presented on 21 October 2016. The Post-Budget Dialogue provided a platform for the Secretary General to Treasury, Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah and his team to highlight the key issues in the budget to participants in the discussion. The discussion was followed by a panel of notable experts giving their respective views. The dialogue was intended to provide further clarification.