He is a 60-year-old low-keyed but highly experienced PR,
think tank and management analyst and strategist who has gained a wide exposure
handling some of the most difficult issues of all time.
In the early eighties, he made history of being the only
overseas student to be elected president of the British Students’ Union over
other British candidates in a red-brick university (Sheffied) in UK. Just
before that, he was also the president of the national overseas students’ body
in UK. His in-depth knowledge of many global issues was acquired from his
interaction with student activists from all over the world who were studying in
Britain at that time and from his interest in reading, observation and research.
In the late eighties, he was the CEO (one of the youngest
at that time) of a European MNC based in Shah Alam, so he understands the high
standards of corporate management.
In the early nineties, he was the CEO of a federal
government council, dealing with forestry and environment issues. He was
managing a fund (from timber levy) of more than RM300 million. He was also the
chief co-ordinator and strategist for the government in countering the negative
boycott campaign and perception in the West on the use of tropical timber,
culminating as the strategic adviser to the government at the Rio Earth Summit
of 1992. Environment was a highly politicised issue at that time and he managed
to propose a comprehensive plan for the government to effectively deal with it.
In 1994, he set up his own management training, special PR
and consultancy firm and it developed an extensive data-base of information
until today on many issues locally and globally. The firm undertook some
consultancy assignments with some large corporations and government bodies. He
was a regular writer on global issues in The New Straits Times from 1995 to
1998 and he also organised and lectured an in-house training about the politics
of environment to journalists of The New Straits Times.
In 2002, he helped to bridge some issues of understanding
between Bill Gates and then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on
Microsoft’s interest to invest significantly in the MSC Project. His
consultancy firm had since been engaged as a strategic consultant by Microsoft
for several years.
He was the author of an international best-selling book,
published in 2003, about the politics of open source software entitled “The
Great Software Debate”. The book was the first of its kind in the world to
explain comprehensively the emerging ICT controversy.
The firm also acted as a trouble-shooting consultant for
other big clients and it also developed innovative projects such as CIM or
computer integrated manufacturing, dyslexia project (to help children with
learning difficulty), Cyberim (in-house Internet content filtering project) and
training on BCP or business continuity plan to help large organizations to be
prepared at any time in dealing with epidemics such as the bird flu.
In November 2008, he started a column in The Sun called
“Beyond Race” focusing on promoting racial understanding in Malaysia and
overseas. In 2011, the column was changed to “Beyond The Wall” to highlight
other local and global issues. All his articles in The Sun can be accessed from
his web-blog here:
He was also a columnist with the monthly business magazine
“Public Listed” writing on critical issues which affecting the corporate
sector. His balanced and analytical press articles on many local and global
issues have won him critical acclaim from many people.
He is currently the initiator and developer of the proposed
government-supported Asian Heritage Museum, an innovative and world class
CSR-driven project in Kuala Lumpur to promote tourism, multiculturalism,
heritage and peace in the region.
His strategic consultancy and think tank firm has just been
appointed the local partner and representative of the world renowned Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU). Headquartered
in London and New York, the EIU is the world’s leading market research and risk
analysis organization covering political,
economic and business developments in 203 countries and has 450 full time
analysts spread across the globe.
December
2014
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