KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s commitment to improving the lives of the vulnerable people in the country was evident long before he became Prime Minister.
IDE Research Centre executive director, Amidi Abdul Manan said Anwar’s long-standing efforts were emphasised by Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor, Prof Muhammad Yunus, during his participation as a panellist at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2025 in Davos, Switzerland, which was also attended by the Prime Minister recently.
“Prof Muhammad Yunus’s statement at the World Economic Forum regarding Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) demonstrates PM Anwar’s commitment to uplifting vulnerable communities in Malaysia,“ he said in a statement today.
Muhammad, a 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate, was recognised for introducing microcredit loans to empower underprivileged groups to start long-term businesses during Bangladesh’s famine crisis in 1974.
As a panellist during the WEF session titled “ASEAN, Even Stronger Together,“ Muhammad, who is also the founder of Grameen Bank, said that Malaysia was the first country to adopt his microcredit idea through the establishment of AIM, initiated by Anwar, who was then the Education Minister.
Elaborating further, Amidi said that in 1987, Anwar instructed Universiti Sains Malaysia, which was under his ministry at the time, to conduct a study on the feasibility of the Grameen Bank concept.
“This study, led by Prof Dr Shukor Kassim and Prof Dr David Gibbon, ultimately led to the establishment of AIM,“ he said.
Amidi said the Prime Minister’s efforts to assist the poor date back to 1974 when he was a student leader advocating for rubber smallholders in Baling who were suffering from the fall in rubber prices at the time.
“We also saw Anwar’s fight for the poor during his tenure as Agriculture Minister. He launched the Pasar Tani initiative in 1985 to combat exploitation by middlemen against poor rural farmers.
“That’s why in 2022, in his book Membangun Negara MADANI, he defined Ihsan (compassion) as:
‘…the feeling of ihsan is about empathising with the suffering and hardship of others and striving to find solutions to alleviate it…’
“The MADANI framework is the culmination of his four decades of experience in public service, coupled with over a decade of contemplating the country’s future. MADANI is not a mere slogan but a manifestation of loyalty and love from a leader towards his nation,“ he said.
