Tun Hussein Onn Chair

The Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia is proud and honoured on the establishment of the Chair in International Studies, which is named after the nation’s third Prime Minister and ISIS Malaysia’s first Chairman.

THE TUN HUSSEIN ONN CHAIR IN INTERNATIONAL STUDIES was established to honour the immense contributions made by Malaysia’s third prime minister in shaping the nation’s foreign policy. Building on and continuing the late Tun Hussein Onn’s visionary initiatives and efforts toward establishing ASEAN as the cornerstone of Malaysia’s foreign policy, the Chair will lead and undertake policy-relevant research on Malaysia’s engagement and interests in ASEAN. The Chair will also examine major powers relations as they pertain to national and regional interests

The Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at ISIS Malaysia is funded by the Noah Foundation

Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Zakri Abdul Hamid has been appointed as the fifth holder

  • Tan Sri Zakri

Zakri is the chairman of Atri Advisory, a consultancy company advising governments, regional bodies and international organisations on science, technology and innovation for sustainable development, the governance of biodiversity and science diplomacy. He is currently pro-chancellor of Multimedia University and Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris respectively. He is a senior fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia as well as holding fellowships with The World Academy of Sciences in Trieste, Italy, the Islamic World Academy of Science in Amman, Jordan, and the World Academy of Art and Science in California. He is also vice-chair, Governing Council of the UN Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries based in Gebze, Turkey, member of the Presidential Council of the New York Academy of Sciences, and member of the Governing Board, Science and Technology for Society Forum in Kyoto.

Among his recent appointments are ambassador and science adviser to the US-based Campaign for Nature; chairman of the Business Council on Sustainable Development, Malaysia; chairman of the ASM national task force to review the Environmental Quality Act (1974); chairman of the Auckland-based International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA)’s Southeast Asia Science Advice Network (SEA SAN); joint-chairmen of the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT); member of the board of trustees of ALAM LESTARI; and member of the Islamabad-based OIC standing committee on S&T cooperation. Currently, he sits on the National Climate Change Action Council and National Science Council, both chaired by the Prime Minister.

Former positions that he held include as science adviser to the prime minister of Malaysia, member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the President of the Islamic Development Bank. He is the founding chair of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). He formerly served the United Nations University in Tokyo as the director of its Institute of Advanced Studies.

Zakri’s expertise lies in higher education, governance of biodiversity, science diplomacy and international relations. As a science thought-leader, he has contributed to the observation, analyses and assessment of global biodiversity and ecosystem services, fostered the remediation and protection of the natural environment and promoted environmental sustainability.

He is the author/editor of Plant breeding and genetic engineering; Genetic resources of underutilised plants in Malaysia; Plant genetic resources; Prospects in biodiversity prospecting; Ecosystems and human well-being: millennium ecosystem assessment; Agriculture, human security and global peace: crossroads in African development. He is a regular columnist of the New Straits Times.

Zakri’s achievements have been recognised at various levels: national (Merdeka Award; National Academic Laureate), regional (Asean Biodiversity Hero; Matsuda Award), and internationally (Zayed International Prize for the Environment; Midori Biodiversity Prize).

Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Hj Shad Saleem Faruqi has been appointed as the fourth holder, July 2019 - June 2021

  • WhatsApp Image 2019-07-02 at 11.44.09

The Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia is pleased to announce the appointment of Emeritus Prof. Datuk Dr Hj Shad Saleem Faruqi as the Fourth Holder of the Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia for the period July 2019 to June 2021. The First Holder of the Chair was YBhg. Dato’ Dr. Muthiah Alagappa (2012-2013) the Second Holder, Professor Dr. Anthony Milner (2014-2015) and the Third Holder was Professor Dr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Emeritus Prof Shad is currently the Holder of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Chair at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya. He is a Member of the Judicial Appointments Commission; a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia; a member of the post GE-14 Government’s Institutional Reform Committee; and a member of the MA63 Committee. He is an Emeritus Professor of Law at Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam. He has also served as a Visiting Professor at USM, Penang; as Associate Professor at UIAM; and an Adjunct Professor at New England University, Australia

He is the author of ten books including Document of Destiny: The Constitution of the Federation of Malaysia; Reflections on Life and the Law; Media Law & Regulations in Malaysia and Our Constitution.

In four and a half decades in the law he has authored more than 600 articles in journals, periodicals and newspapers. He has done many national and international consultancies including the drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives in 1992.

The Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at ISIS Malaysia is funded by the Noah Foundation.

Email: shadsaleem@isis.org.my

Professor Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram has been appointed as the third holder, 2016-2017

Professor Dr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram was the third holder of the Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies for the period 2016-2017. The first holder of the Chair was YBhg. Dato’ Dr. Muthiah Alagappa (2012-2013) and the second holder was Professor Dr. Anthony Milner (2014-2015).

Jomo Kwame Sundaram has been Assistant Director General and Coordinator for Economic and Social Development (ADG-ES), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations since August 2012. He was Assistant Secretary General for Economic Development in the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) from January 2005 until June 2012, and (Honorary) Research Coordinator for the G24 Intergovernmental Group on International Monetary Affairs and Development from December 2006 until September 2012. In 2007, he was awarded the Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. He has authored and edited over a hundred books and translated 12 volumes besides writing many academic papers and articles for the media.

Jomo was Professor in the Applied Economics Department, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya until November 2004, Founder Director (1978-2004) of the Institute of Social Analysis (INSAN) and Founder Chair (2001-2004) of IDEAs, International Development Economics Associates (www.ideaswebsite.org); he now serves on its Advisory Panel. He was also on the Board of the United Nations Research Institute on Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva. He is on the editorial boards of several learned journals.

During 2008-2009, Jomo served as adviser to Father Miguel d’Escoto, the President of the 63rd United Nations General Assembly, and as a member of the [Stiglitz] Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System. During 2010-2012, he was G20 sherpa to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and also UN G20 Finance Deputy during 2011-2012.

Born in Penang, Malaysia, in 1952, Jomo studied at the Penang Free School (PFS, 1964-1966), Royal Military College (RMC, 1967-1970), Yale (1970-1973) and Harvard (1973-1977). He has taught at Science University of Malaysia (USM, 1974), Harvard (1974-1975), Yale (1977), National University of Malaysia (UKM, 1977-1982), University of Malaya (1982-2004), and Cornell (1993). He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University (1987-1988; 1991-1992) and a Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore (2004).

The Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at ISIS Malaysia is funded by the Noah Foundation.

Professor Anthony Milner has been appointed as the second holder, 2014-2015.

Professor Anthony (Tony) Milner AM, FASSA holds the Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at ISIS Malaysia. Appointed Basham Professor of Asian History at the Australian National University in 1994, his other appointments include International Director and Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Adjunct Professor at the University of Malaya and Co-Chair of the Australian Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific. He has served on a range of Australian Government committees (including the Foreign Affairs Council and the Australia Malaysia Institute) and has held visiting appointments at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Kyoto University, Humboldt University, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Pok Rafeah Chair) and the National University of Singapore (Raffles Visiting Professor of History).

Professor Milner was Dean of Asian Studies at the Australian National University 1996-2005, and before that Director of the Australia Asia Perceptions Project of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. He was Deans’ and Directors’ representative on the University Council of the Australian National University 2000-2002 and served on the Board of the AustralAsia Centre of the Asia Society 2008-2013. He is currently a Board Member of Asialink at the University of Melbourne.

Professor Milner has written widely on Malay history, Southeast Asian Studies and regional relations. He edited the three-volume series, Australia in Asia (Oxford University Press); his most recent single-author book is The Malays (Wiley-Blackwell). His Kerajaan: Malay Political Culture on the Eve of Colonial Rule, was selected in 2003 as one of the 25 “works of major importance to historical studies” and “most frequently cited in the literature” in the field of Southeast Asia history (Association for Asian Studies in the USA on behalf of the American Council of Learned Societies). He wrote an essay on ‘Asian regionalism’ for the latest volume of Routledge Press’ The Far East and Australasia 2014 (New York and London) and was co-editor of the Asialink Commission report, Our Place in the Asian Century: Southeast Asia as The Third Way (Melbourne, 2012). He comments on regional relations in a range of Australian and Southeast Asian newspapers, as well as on the Australian ABC.

Professor Milner was made a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 1995 and a National Life Member, Australian Institute of International Affairs in 2007. He became a Member of the Order of Australia in 2007. His public lectures include the Annual Lecture of the Academy of the Social Sciences (The Cunningham Lecture), the Golay Lecture (Cornell University), the Raffles Lecture (National University of Singapore) and the Fourth Asia-Pacific Lecture (ABC, Parliament House, Canberra).

Email: Anthony.Milner@anu.edu.au

Datuk Dr Muthiah Alagappa was the first Chair holder, 2012-2013.

Dato’ Dr Muthiah Alagappa is the Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Concurrently he is non-resident Senior Associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. From 2006 to 2010 he was Distinguished Senior Fellow at the East-West Center. Prior to that he was founding director of East-West Center Washington (2001-2006), director of the integrated research program in East-West Center Honolulu, (1999-2001) and a senior fellow at the East-West Center since 1989.  Dato’ Dr Muthiah was a Senior Fellow at ISIS Malaysia from 1985-1988.

Dato’ Dr Muthiah is a Senior Researcher in Comparative and International Politics. His research includes political legitimacy of governments, civil society and political change, political role of the military, democratic change, role of force in domestic and international politics, conceptualization of security, Asian practice of security, security order in Asia, nuclear weapons and security, and international governance.
He has had extensive experience in research management. He integrated and directed a large research programme at the East-West Center in the areas of politics, security, economics, population, health, and the environment. He managed 25 researchers with PhD degrees and a support staff of about 70 persons, with an annual budget of US$4 million.

Dato’ Dr Muthiah has held visiting professorships at Columbia University, Stanford University, Keio University, and the Nanyang Technological University. He was Leverhulme visiting professor at University of Bristol in the fall of 2008 and Sir Howard Kippenberger Visiting Chair in the School of Government in Victoria University of Wellington in summer 2010-11.

Prior to his academic career, Dato’ Dr Muthiah served as a career officer in the Malaysian Armed Forces (1962-82) holding field, command, and staff positions, including senior army member defense planning staff in the Ministry of Defense and command of three signals regiments.

Dato’ Dr Muthiah has published widely in highly reputed university presses and international journals. His recent publications include ‘A Changing Asia: Prospects for War, Peace, Cooperation, and Order,’ Political Science, 63, 2 (December 2011): 155-185; ‘International Relations Studies in Asia: Distinctive Trajectories,’ International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, 11, 2 (2011): 193-230; The Long Shadow: Nuclear Weapons and Security in 21st Century Asia, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008; Civil Society and Political Change in Asia: Expanding and Contracting Democratic Change, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004; and Asian Security Order: Instrumental and Normative Features, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003.

Dato’ Dr Muthiah has a PhD (International Affairs), from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and an MA (Politics) from the University of Lancaster.