KEYNOTE SPEAKER

YAM Tunku Zain Al-'Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz 

​

Founding President

Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) 

 

YAM Tunku Zain Al-'Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz more popularly known as Tunku Zain Al-’Abidin was born on 6 July 1982 in Petaling Jaya. He is the second son of the Negeri Sembilan Royal Family. His father is Tuanku Muhriz ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir the reigning Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia.

 

Tunku Zain was educated in Malaysia and the United Kingdom, receiving his MSc in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Subsequently he worked in the UK Houses of Parliament, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the KRA Group and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

 

Throughout, he co-founded the Malaysia Think Tank which later became the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) and has maintained his weekly columns in the Malaysian press, out of which three books have compiled.  He also authored a book for the Installation of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan 

and led a major project to revitalise the State Anthem.

 

Tunku Zain is a trustee of the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, Yayasan Chow Kit and Yayasan Munarah, a director or advisor of several educational organisations and an independent non-executive director of two public listed companies.  He is patron of several cultural initiatives and a committee member of several associations.

 

He has been recognised for public service, integrity and youth leadership, and has been selected for various programmes by the governments of Australia, France and the European Union, as well as being an Eisenhower Fellow.