Research and advocacy of progressive and pragmatic policy ideas.
ABOUT US
Malaysia is undergoing immense political and social change. Against this backdrop, The Centre was established in July 2019 to be a voice for national resilience and to strengthen centrist thought in Malaysia. The Centre fulfils this goal by researching and proposing progressive, pragmatic and sensible policy ideas.
Our research focuses on understanding the gaps between top-down policy goals and ground-level impact. We also strive to increase public awareness on policy issues by communicating our work in accessible, reader-friendly ways.
Our team members come from diverse backgrounds but all share a commitment to the values of non-partisanship, pragmatism and people-first research.
Founders
Khairy Jamaluddin
Co-Founder
YB Khairy Jamaluddin is the Minister of Health for Malaysia. He is the MP for Rembau since 2008.
Shahril Hamdan
Co-Founder
Shahril Hamdan is the Director of Economy Division in the Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia. He is also the Chief of Information for UMNO.
Research Team
Khairil Ahmad
CEO
Khairil heads the The Centre and manages the ‘societal contracts’ research pillar. He is a political theorist who is interested in probing ideological underpinnings in contemporary policy discourses, and playing Football Manager.
Nelleita Omar
Research Director
Nell sets the overall research & branding direction of The Centre as well as manages the ‘safety nets’ research pillar. Her particular interests are behavioural economics, multi-ethnic democracies and scuba diving.
Ooi Kok Hin
Research Manager
Kok Hin manages the ‘public goods’ and ‘safety nets’ research pillars. Trained in political science, sociology and public policy, he is a lifelong fan of professional wrestling.
Ziad Razak
Research Advisor
Ziad supports the ‘public goods’ research pillar. He holds degrees in Engineering from Cambridge and Public Administration from Harvard, and lives in Kuala Lumpur with his wife, Kat, and his cat, Monkey.
Idlan Zakaria
Advisor
Idlan advises The Centre on aspects of research as well as communications. When she isn’t at her day job as an academic, she enjoys playing football, watching football and reading about football, in that order.
Tham Jia Vern
Researcher
Jia Vern works under the ‘societal contracts’ research pillar, and her research interests include inter-group relations, criminal justice reform, as well as electoral autocracies.
Edwin Goh
Researcher
Edwin is a researcher under the ‘safety nets’ research pillar. His main research interests are behavioural economics and the digital transformation of work. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.
Visuals & Communications Team
Mimi Mashud
Visual Content Head
Mimi draws stuff for The Centre. She loves visual problem-solving and making things pretty. She spends too much time on Instagram, but now she can justify it as work-related.
Natasha Jalil
Social Media & Communications Lead
Natasha is The Centre’s all-round communicator. She has an affinity for short captions, great stories, baked goods, and all things Hallyu.
The Centre is a centrist think tank driven by research and advocacy of progressive and pragmatic policy ideas. We are a not-for-profit and a mostly remote working organisation.
For general inquiries, please write to us at info@centre.my.
For job and internship applications, please write to us at careers@centre.my.