The recently formed National Recovery Council, chaired by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, will be using a whole-of-nation approach to ensure that the National Recovery Plan can be executed smoothly and the country can exit the pandemic in a systematic and safe manner.
The prime minister chaired a meeting of the National Recovery Council yesterday, which discussed in detail and took into account various data and views from health and economic experts, such as vaccination rates, ICU capacity and requirements for the business sector, especially SMEs to reopen with strict SOPs.
Its members include Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Senior International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, Senior Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, Senior Education Minister Datuk Radzi Jidin, Senior Foreign Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and National Security Council director-general Datuk Rodzi Md Saad.
The industry experts on the council include Khazanah Research Institute chairman Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, former Khazanah Nasional Berhad managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Yayasan Chow Kit co-founder and child rights activist Dr Hartini
Zainudin, Universiti Malaya Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases Professor Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Star Media Group adviser Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai, SME Association of Malaysia president Datuk Michael Kang, former Education director-general Datuk Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim and Monash University Malaysia Associate Professor Dr Sivakumar Thurairajasingam.
The council was formed to replace the NRP special committee.
Expert members' profile:
Financial Institution:
Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar was the managing director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad from 2004 to 2018. He spearheaded several national programmes, including the GLC Transformation Programme, the development of Iskandar Malaysia, the restructuring of national companies and the internationalisation of Khazanah into a leading Sovereign Investment Fund.
He also chaired or founded several entities, including Axiata Group Berhad, IHH Berhad, Yayasan Hasanah, Yayasan Khazanah and the Khazanah Research Institute.
Economy:
Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop is the chairman of Khazanah Research Institute.He held the post of finance minister II from January 2004 to April 2009, and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department responsible for the Economic Planning Unit from May 2009 to May 2013. He was with the Central Bank of Malaysia from 1968 to 1994 and again from September 1998 to April 2000, where he played a key role in the development of Islamic finance in Malaysia, including the Islamic pawn-broking system (al-Rahnu). He was also responsible for the setting up of the Securities Commission and Malaysia's first rating agency (RAM).
Education:
Datuk Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim served at the Education Ministry for more than 34 years and has extensive experience in policy development, macro planning, programme implementation and evaluation. She held the position of Education director-general from Jan 10, 2020 to April 5 this year, and was the Education deputy director-general (Policy and Curriculum Sector) from September 2018 to January last year. She is now an adjunct professor at UTM and a senior fellow at MASA Institute.
Non-governmental organisation:
Dr Hartini Zainudin is a child activist, who now works for a local humanitarian organisation as its fundraising and resource mobilisation consultant and strategist. She is the co-founder of Yayasan Chow Kit (formerly known as NurSalam). She is also the vice-president of Voice of the Children, (founded in 2008) a local NGO that does advocacy work, law and policy reforms and training on children's issues.
Mental Healthcare:
Dr Sivakumar has practised clinical psychiatry for more than 15 years and is now teaching Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine at Monash University Malaysia. He is also the head of Monash Clinical School of Johor Baru.
Healthcare:
Professor Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman is a Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Universiti Malaya and an adjunct associate professor at Yale University.
She is presently Chair of the UM Medical Centre Covid-19 Task Force.
Communication:
Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai, 60, is the group adviser at Star Media Group.
He has 36 years of experience in the media industry and hosts a popular podcast programme as part of his social media journalism initiative.
SME:
Datuk Michael Kang has been the national president of SME Association of Malaysia since 2015.
With 20 years of experience in the SME Community and a keen promoter of Malaysia's SME sector, Kang has worked tirelessly to develop the SME landscape and encourage business owners to transform their businesses to keep up with global markets.
Tourism:
Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is the co-founder of AirAsia and was appointed a non-independent executive director and chief executive officer of AirAsia Group Berhad on March 30, 2018.
In December 2001, Fernandes, together with Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, Datuk Pahamin Ab Rajab and Datuk Abdul Aziz Abu Bakar, acquired struggling domestic airline AirAsia and relaunched it as a pioneer of budget travel in Asia, building AirAsia into the world's best low-cost carrier.
Last year, amid the global Covid-19 pandemic, AirAsia pivoted from just an airline into a tech company that focuses on travel, lifestyle, logistics and fintech.