KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 19): There are only about 12 days left to the year. A year that Malaysians will probably remember as one that recorded the lowest prices of oil in recent years – the commodity touched below $34.50 a barrel on Friday – and which saw the government having to grapple with its impact on the national coffers.

 It is also a year that saw Malaysians struggle to cope with the April imposition of the 6% goods and services tax, besides having to contend with imported inflation from the plunging local currency, which has slumped as low as near 4.50 against the greenback – something not seen since the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis.

The nation also saw rising political tension after the very public spat intensified between the country’s former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over the controversial 1Malaysia Development Bhd, which is being investigated for financial mismanagement and graft.

The issue was no doubt exacerbated by a surprise Cabinet reshuffle in July that saw the then deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin being dropped just days after he publicly called for greater transparecy on the 1MDB debacle, and the sudden replacement of the then attorney-general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail for ‘health reasons’. On the heels of that came well-respected Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s hint that she would be retiring when her contract ends in April 2016.

These, and many more, mayhaps characterised 2015 to Malaysians, a year in which Malaysians also became acquainted with the words ‘trust deficit’. An easy year it definitely has not been thus far, but there are surely some key takeaways and lessons learnt from it.

In the latest The Edge Malaysia publication (Dec 21-Dec 27), the weekly features nine individuals whom it hoped were a good representation of "today's corporate and thought leaders, as well as tomorrow's up-and-coming minds, and movers and shakers", of their take on the year that will soon come to pass, and what they believe 2016 has in store for us – their fears, hopes and expectations for the coming year, as well as what they would like to see done.

In no particular order, they are:

1.    Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, 51, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of the Economic Planning Unit since June 2013, and one of two technocrats handpicked to join the Cabinet after the 13th General Election. He also chairs the Special Economic Committee, which was announced on Aug 26 this year to develop immediate and medium-term plans to strengthen Malaysia's fundamentals.

2.    Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, 49, chairman of the CIMB Group and youngest son of Malaysia's second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak. Nazir has been counted as one of Asia's most influential corporate figures for at least a decade, but, describes himself as a 'semi-retired banker & Chelsea' fan in his well-followed Instagram account.

3.    Datuk Seri Jamaluddin Ibrahim, 56, is in his eighth year as president and group CEO of Axiata Group Bhd, one of Asia’s largest telecommunications groups, serving over 260 million customers across nine nations in the region.

4.    Datuk Abdul Farid Alias, Maybank CEO, 47, was appointed group president and CEO of Maybank Group in August 2013. He was formerly Maybank deputy president and head of global banking and has over 20 years’ experience in investment banking and capital markets.

5.    Liew Chin Tong, Kluang MP, 38, has been Member of Parliament for Kluang, Johor, since May 2013. He is political education director and a central executive council member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

6.    Wan Saiful Wan Jan, 40, CEO of IDEAS, a Malaysian public policy think tank he co-founded with two others in early 2006. IDEAS is inspired by Tunku’s vision that this nation should “be forever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations”.

7.    Ruben Emir Gnanalingam, 39, is CEO of Westports Holdings Bhd and Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the 13th busiest port in the world (in 2011).

8.    Patrick Grove, 40, CEO of Catcha Group, who started Catcha.com in 1994, but failed to take it public in 2000 when the dot-com bubble burst. The Australian with Malaysian permanent residency was the only Catcha Group founder to stay on and transform Catcha.com from Asia’s Yahoo! search portal to a media and technology group.

9.    Vivy Sofinas Yusof, 28, is an up and coming fashion mogul who runs fashion e-commerce site FashionValet.

Find out what they have to share. Pick up a copy of The Edge Malaysia from newsstands around you.
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