A gem of an island

AFTER my return to Bangladesh last month, I’ve just visited Sri Lanka, where the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) has partner think tanks working on economic issues and advocating policy change.

They were very keen to learn about the growth of civil society in Malaysia, and I shared how Ideas grew from a tiny outfit, with people being hostile, and then skeptical, and then eventually understanding (if begrudgingly) our objectives, to now a healthy team being engaged by policymakers, bureaucrats and academics.