A prestigious event embedded within the fabric of Malaysia’s history, the Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) Lecture® series was established by the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM) in 1970. Held to commemorate the premiership of Malaysia’s 1st Prime Minister, the late YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, the event has been regarded as the premier platform for fostering thought leadership.

Since its inception, the annual series has showcased both Malaysian and international forward-thinking leaders and distinguished speakers who have shared their knowledge, thinking, and findings. The TAR Lecture series has always reflected the crucible of management thinking that is relevant to the respective periods they are delivered in.  It is also where pertinent issues and challenges impacting the nation, region, and globe are deliberated with authorities, intellectuals, and decision-makers.

Previous luminaries who have shared insights and experience at the past TAR Lecture Series included Almarhum DYMM Sultan Azlan Shah, former Sultan of Perak, and former Lord President of the Federal Court, as well as YABhg Tun Hussein Onn, YABhg Tun Dr. Mahathir, former Prime Ministers of Malaysia and DYMM Paduka Seri Sultan Perak Dr. Raja Nazrin Shah.

The 30th TAR Lecture, sponsored by the QI Group, featured Professor Kishore Mahbubani, senior Singapore diplomat and policy expert, who delivered the talk titled ‘Will ASEAN (and Malaysia) be torn or prosper from the US-China geopolitical contest?’ . Prof Mahbubani is currently a Distinguished Fellow of Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. He was Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 1984 and 1989, and again between 1998 and 2004, and President of the United Nations Security Council between 2001 and 2002. He is considered one of Asia’s leading global public intellectuals and has served across three distinguished careers: in diplomacy, academia, and writing and speaking.

Prof Mahbubani shared his perspectives on current global and regional market conditions, particularly how ASEAN can leverage them to drive economic growth, especially in the recent China-US Geopolitical contest.

He touched on the importance of ASEAN countries being less passive and, instead, switch gears to urge both superpowers to talk more with each other. He added that the geopolitical contest between the two powers would prospectively bring good news to the region. He, however, cautioned that ASEAN countries should not take sides in this geopolitical contest.

Read on for more insights on the lecture Asean countries should facilitate US-China dialogue, says scholar

QI Group Founder and Executive Chairman Dato’ Sri Vijay Eswaran led the QI delegation at the TAR Lecture series. He was joined by Group MD Kuna Senathirajah and Director of Business Development Krish Kumar.

You may watch the video highlights here.