By Ishak bin Ismail

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: When Tan Sri Sulaiman Mahbob succeeded Tan Sri Sheriff Kassim as Chairman of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) more than a decade ago, he inherited far more than a title—he inherited an institution at its intellectual and financial zenith.

Flush with over RM16 million in reserves, MIER served as a dynamic hub of economic thought and a powerful voice in the marketplace of ideas both at home and abroad.

This was not merely a prominent think tank—it was the think tank. Even His Majesty the now Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah, a man of letters and ideas, honoured the National Economic Outlook Conference (NEOC) with an address that was as forward-looking as it was erudite.

Behind that gravitas stood figures of substance: Sheriff Kassim, a former Secretary-General of the Ministry of Finance; Emeritus Professor Mohd Ariff Abdul Kareem of the University of Malaya, one of Malaysia’s most respected economic minds; and Lee Kim Bian, then Assistant Director, whose quiet competence kept the institute’s gears well-oiled and moving forward.

At its peak, MIER ranked among the Top 25 think tanks in Asia, according to the Global Go To Think Tank Index produced by the Think Tank and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania under the late Dr. James McGann. That ranking was the global benchmark—and MIER belonged in that conversation.

Fast forward to today, and the narrative has shifted dramatically.

Despite receiving millions in government funding over the years, MIER now bears little resemblance to its former self; it has become a mere echo of its past glory.

Yet it continues to proclaim the government as both “client and benefactor,” even though every government representative has been removed from its Board of Trustees. In their place sit a succession of CEOs and executive directors whose expertise often seems ill-fitting for an economic research institution.

Building on this irony, MIER still occupies government-owned premises while outsourcing its technical work to foreign nationals—a curious decision for an organisation tasked with strengthening national capacity. The result is less a powerhouse of policy analysis and more a theatre of missteps and missed opportunities.

MIER has strayed from its core functions. It ventured into projects like the Third National Car initiative and has since abandoned economic forecasting and surveillance—two of its essential functions. Its diffusion indices for business confidence and consumer sentiment, once prized as barometers of economic health, have been discredited by multiple statistical reviews and independent analyses that show they frequently diverge from real-world data and sometimes move counter to broader economic trends.

Their unreliability has eroded so severely that both Bank Negara Malaysia and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, institutions renowned for analytical rigour, are reported to have ceased using them.

More damning still is its latest annual report (SSM registration No. 149064-U), titled:

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

“These Financial Statements and Reports of the Company with Unqualified Auditors’ Report for the financial year ended 31 December 2023 were tabled at the AGM held on 8 August 2024.”

Turn to page 7, however, and the real revelation appears under “Basis for Qualified Opinion”:

Basis for Qualified Opinion

“During the year, the Institute received financial assistance to conduct surveys and research on post COVID-19 impact and recovery to the Malaysian amounting RM2,500,000 from the Ministry of Finance (MOF). However, we were not provided with the report and other deliveries of the above surveys and research submitted to the MOF for us to ascertain whether the Institute had fulfilled all its performance obligations and accordingly can utilise this financial assistance as grant income for the financial year ended 31 December 2023.

Consequently, we were unable to determine whether any adjustments to these amounts were necessary.”

Against this backdrop, MIER’s decline feels less like a natural cycle and more like a betrayal of its own legacy. The institute that once set the standard for excellence in economic research has been allowed to drift—or worse, to be steered—into irrelevance. It’s time to say it plainly: the sun has set on your tenure, Tan Sri Sulaiman Mahbob. The future demands a new dawn.

And to the Ministry of Finance: it’s time to act with clarity and conviction—pull the plug on MIER once and for all. What remains is nothing more than an intellectual dud, its once-brilliant mind bank now bankrupt of ideas; a vagabond institution, wandering aimlessly from one ill-conceived project to the next; a loose cannon on the deck of Malaysia’s economic ship, threatening to scuttle our policy vessel with its erratic forecasts and misplaced priorities.

MIER has long outlived its relevance, having lost both its moral compass and its raison d’être.

Let us consign this rogue, dysfunctional outfit to history and clear the stage for a new era of think-tank excellence—one grounded in integrity, rigour, and genuine service to the nation.
It’s time to end the farce once and for all—shut it down!

*Ishak bin Ismail is an observer of Southeast Asian Affairs.*