Participants at the Working Groups

A total of forty seven people participated at the five working group sessions which were held between August 24 and 26, 2009. Basically we had at least fifteen people in most sessions. These were kept small in order to foster closer discussion and integration.

There were no papers presented nor any expert invited to do a presentation as the focus was upon receiving feedback from the perspectives of the participants. Dato J Jega of the Friendship Group took the extra mile on his own initiative by putting his thoughts on a nineteen page paper.

Of the forty seven participants, seventeen were from civil society and voluntary organization. Twelve were from the public sector, nine from academic institutions including public and private institutions of higher learning. Another nine were from the private and business sector. This is fair representation for policy discussion and feedback. However in terms of gender balance women were inadequately represented as there were only eleven women out of the forty seven who participated.

A number who were present also suggested that separate discussions should be held with those who had been in the programmes specially designated for the Indian community. These could be among the youth who had or are still undertaking skills and entrepreneurship training or even among the ones who had received micro loans through Yayasan Tekun.

In addition meeting the women in the urban poor micro loans thorough Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) will also provide valuable input especially for enlarging the size of the outreach. These could be held in the next phase of formulating the recommendations for the 10th Malaysia Plan.

Listed below are the people who participated in the three days programme which was hosted by the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department. We thank YB Datuk Devamany and his officers especially Mr Vivek his private secretary for their kind cooperation and coordination.

Participants at the working group sessions held from August 24 to 26, 2009:-

1) Anthony Arul, Shelter
2) Balakrishnan, Head, Department of International and Strategic Studies, UM
3) Brian Lariche, Director Lariche Community, Kuala Lumpur
4) Dheer Singh, UPSO Chairman
5) Denison Jayasooria, Datuk Dr, Principal Fellow, KITA-UKM
6) Devamany, YB Dato SK, Deputy Minister in Prime Minister’s Department
7) Doris Selvaratnam, Dr, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Economic & Business, UKM
8) Elanjelian, Ve (Malaysian Community & Research Foundation (MCEF)
9) George, J Schwartz, Member of Parole Board, Ministry of Home Affairs
10) Jaya Partiban, Datin Paduka, Public Service Commission
11) James Nayagam, Chairman, Shelter
12) Jasmine Adaickalam, Executive Secretary, Yayasan Strategik Sosial
13) Jegathesan, Dato J, Advisor Sathya Sai Baba Council
14) Joseph Adaikalam, Prof Dato, VC, Binary University College
15) Kalaimani, Dr S, Consultant, SMR Group
16) Malini Ramanan, PhD candidate, IKMAS, UKM
17) Kamal Sadiq, Dr, Visitng Fellow, Institute of Ethnic Studies, UKM
18) Komalam Kesawan, EPU, Prime Minister’s Department
19) Mahendran Arumugam, Vice President, Sathya Sai Baba Organisation in Malaysia
20) Manikam Krishan, Director (Policy Research), Yayasan Strategik Sosial (YSS)
21) Manjit Kaur, Dr
22) Mohd Iqbal, Dato, Farlim Group (Malaysia) Bhd
23) Mohd Zaulkifih Hasnin, EPU, Prime Minister’s Department
24) Mohanadas, Mej Jen (R) Dato’Pahlawan Dr.R, Deputy VC, MAHASA UC
25) Nithi Nesadurai, Director Nesa Communications
26) Paul Sinappan, Dr, People Service Organisation, Batang Berjuntai
27) Ragunath Kesavan, Chairman, Bar Council Malaysia
28) Rajendran, Dr NS, Director, Centre for Global Studies, UPSI
29) Ramachandran, R, Policy head, PIKOM
30) Rendatil Jennah bt. Abdul Waheb Zen, EPU, Prime Minister’s Department
31) Sahadevan, Datuk B, CEO, NLFCS
32) Sa’idah Haji Hashim, EPU, Prime Minister’s Department
33) Saravan M Sinappan, Era Consumer Malaysia
34) Siti Nafisah Che Al Razab, EPU, Prime Minister’s Department
35) Sivamoorthy Shanmugam, Dr, Advisor JIBA/MIBA, CNM Consultancy Network
36) Siva Subramanium, Dato, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM)
37) Stephen Doss, Head of R&D, Yayasan Budi Penyayang Malaysia
38) Suhana Md Saleh, EPU, Prime Minister’s Department
39) Suresh Kumar, Dr, Managing Director, Strasys Solutions
40) Thaiveegan, Dato A, Deputy CPO Selangor Police
41) Thambirajah Datuk Dr, Founder/Director Sri Murugan Centre (SMC)
42) Tharim Cecil, Trainer Shelter
43) Thirunaukarasu Subramanium, Lecturer, Faculty of Arts & Social Science, UM
44) Unnikrishnan Menon, Mimos Consultant on Integrity & Values
45) Venki Sankar, KL& Selangor Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry
46) Victor Joseph, Director, Strasys Solutions
47) Vivekananthan, Private Secretary to YB Dato SK Devamany