Packed crowd at inaugural forum
KUALA LUMPUR: The New Straits Times’ inaugural NST Insight Forum drew a packed crowd, which filled up the Balai Berita Theatrette yesterday.
Before a crowd of 100 industry captains, think tank representatives, bankers, thought leaders, regulators from both the public and private sectors, Deputy Defence Minister Liew Chin Tong and Rembau member of parliament Khairy Jamaluddin offered bipartisan views on economic challenges faced by the laymen and proposed improvements on current policies.
The NST Insight programme is an extension of the publication newsroom’s live journalism, which focuses on discussions concerning current policy matters and topical issues. It is coorganised by public relations agency Orange Tree Consultancy.
Present was Media Prima Bhd executive director of news and editorial operations Mustapha Kamil Janor.
Moderated by NST Leader writer Abdul Rahim Mydin, the forum, titled “Malaysian Economy: Issues and Challenges,” saw panellists discuss issues and matters raised by the public.
For two hours, Pakatan Harapan’s Liew and Barisan Nasional Khairy, who is also the shadow finance minister for the opposition, spoke their minds on restoration of equality in governance between federal and state governments, and the need for businesses to incorporate digital technologies and retrain the average Malaysian to be more productive so as to earn higher wages.
The panel was also asked about the state of the nation’s economy, to which both agreed that the country was showing growth.
The discussion was broadcast live on NST’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. Members of the audience during the live session were given a chance to pose questions to the panel.
Those who missed the session can watch the recording on NST’s Facebook page.