2008

The year 2008 marked the twenty-third year of the Institute's operation. The Institute has been productive in its activities, made possible through the dedication of the Executive Director, staff members, associate research fellows and friends of the Institute. The Institute has been able to carry out its planned activities without any difficulty despite its usual limited financial resources. I would like to record here my sincere gratitude to the members of the Board of Trustees and the Advisory Panel for their guidance and contribution throughout the year.

The macroeconomic surveillance and forecasting work continues to be its major output, supplemented by the quarterly business conditions and consumer sentiments surveys, the MIER monthly monitor, and the quarterly automotive industry, retail trade, residential property and tourism market surveys. Findings provided by these surveys accurately tracked the Malaysian economy. In addition, MIER has co-branded with TEC Asia a quarterly survey on CEO confidence called "VISTAGE-MIER Confidence Index" since fourth quarter 2005. These activities have been useful to the business community and have also contributed much to the Institute's profile because of the rigorous analyses.

Another core activity is capacity or institutional building and training projects, which have gained prominence in recent years. These projects have assisted the newly emerging economies in their development planning, human resource development and integration of their economies into the regional and global economies through bilateral, regional and multilateral channels. This year, the Institute has successfully conducted a joint training course on "Facilitating Trade and Investment in Indian Ocean-rim Economic Region for African Countries' under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Programme in Malaysia.

Several equally important projects successfully completed in the year include "East Asian Regional Model (EARM)-Malaysia Forecast Project commissioned by the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE), Japan, "Managing Capital Flows: Search for a Model" commissioned by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Tokyo; "Institutional Strategies within APEC for Improving the Micro Economic Policy Foundations of East Asian Economic Performance" and "Financing Higher Education and Economic Development in East Asia", both commissioned by the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research (EABER) of the Australian National University (ANU), Australia; "Developing a Comprehensive Roadmap toward East Asian Economic Integration", "Competition Policy in ASEAN", International Infrastructure Development in East Asia: Toward Effective and Balanced Regional Integration", Analysis of Industrial Agglomeration, Production Networks and FDI Promotion: Developing Practical Strategies for Industrial Clustering" and ASEAN Integration: Development Schemes Supporting CLMV Countries", all commissioned by the East Asian Research Institute (ERIA), Jakarta; "Development Experience and Determinants of Success - Malaysia" commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila; "Realising the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC): A Comprehensive Assessment - Chapter on the Regional Market for Goods, Services and Labour Mobility" commissioned by the East-West Centre, Hawaii, USA; and "Malaysia's Success Story: Innovation and Export Development" commissioned by the United Nations Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

The above activities have sharpened our understanding of the Malaysian economy. We have been able to translate these lessons to the benefit of transition economies. Our involvement in these international projects has led to the creation of a highly commendable image overseas.

Today, the Institute boasts, among its many clients, the Government of Malaysia, several state governments in the Federation and the corporate sector as well as several governments in the ASEAN region, international and regional organisations and national institutions of foreign countries, all of which have been instrumental in contributing to the Institute's overall achievement.

The Institute also organised a successful National Economic Outlook Conference (NEOC) in December, a high-profile annual year-end event. In addition to the core research activity and the NEOC, the Institute also organised conferences, seminars, workshops, economic briefings, training workshops and MIER Brown Bag Seminars. MIER has also been co-managing the prestigious Asia Oil & Gas Conference (AOGC) with Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) since 2005. In December, we also had the honour to co-organise with the International Peace Foundation, Vienna, the prestigious Bridges - Dialogues towards a Culture of Peace Programme, with Professor Robert Engle, 2003 Nobel Laureate for Economics at New York University, USA delivering a keynote address on "Why is Global Financial Volatility so High?". The KAF Investment Bank Berhad funded the event.

In the 2008 Global Survey of Think Tanks conducted by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, International Relations Program of the University of Pennsylvania, MIER was ranked among the top 25 (out of 653 Think Tanks) in Asia.

While serving the international community, the Institute has not forgotten its responsibility to the local public-at-large. The Executive Director and other research staff regularly contribute articles on topical issues, which are published in the local media regularly. This is to keep the public abreast of current developments in the economy, and to stimulate thinking on policy issues. Also, the Institute's staff members write papers for presentation at conferences organised by other institutions, both at home and abroad.

Local and foreign guests and visitors are also a regular feature at MIER. The Institute also provides consultation at a small fee to organisations seeking advice or alternative views on the economic happenings in the country.

In order to meet the mandated objectives, the Institute must be adequately funded. Towards this end, fund-raising drive to enhance the MIER Endowment Fund has become a norm at the Institute. We are grateful for the contributions made so far by the Government of Malaysia and corporate benefactors.

We are also grateful to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), which has given tremendous financial and technical assistance since 1987 until the first quarter of 2001, the Government of Malaysia for its strong support, and Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) for graciously providing rental-free office space. Last but not least, my sincere gratitude to Queen's University at Kingston of Canada for the smooth coordination of the MIER/Queen's Project under the CIDA Phase II Programme Support to MIER, which finally came to an end as of 1 April 2001.

The Institute's future research plan points to increasing in-house research projects and other policy studies in the years to come. I am confident that as MIER gains in credibility and experience, it will continue to make useful contributions in fulfilling the goals for which it was established.

Tan Sri Dato' Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim
20 April 2009