This interview withYB Liew Chin Tong, outgoing Executive Director of Penang Institute and Member of Parliament for Bukit Bendera, discusses his understanding of the tasks think tanks need to adopt in the 21st century. Malaysian nation building has not been an easy process, and one of the negative developments it involved was not only a huge outflow of brains but also the outsourcing of thinking by the government. The latter has left governance in Malaysia in a sad state, run according to knee-jerk reactions and for populist appeal.

Q: Tell us how you became involved in think-tank activities and in Penang especially?

Well, after the Democratic Action Party won power in the state in early 2008, I had a discussion with the Chief Minister, Mr Lim Guan Eng, about the need for a new think tank in the state to supply the new state government with good advice based on good research. This would make full use of the many experts on urban and municipal government who can be found in Penang.

Decision-making is essentially based on advice, which means that it is the duty of all of us to make sure that good advice is available, that sound information is available to the government and to society at large. This is something that I have always been convinced of; that the government needs a think tank; and that the party needs a think tank.

What do you have otherwise? If the input is garbage, you cannot expect the output to be otherwise. If the quality and depth and breadth of advice is good, then decisions can be based on evidence. You cannot work based only on civil service advice.

Once you have alternative advice alongside civil service advice, then you have policy dialogue. In Malaysia, we tend to have the civil service on one hand, and on the other, we have private interests. Of course, we cannot blame the latter for voicing their preferences and lobbying for their own benefit.

What we need is something in the middle – a third force; and that is what think tanks should aim to be. Compared to civil society groups, think tanks have to function more broadly and be more result-oriented.