Perdana Leadership Foundation () is a foundation established to preserve, research and disseminate information on the past Prime Ministers of Malaysia. The foundation's main aim is to increase awareness of Malaysia's intellectual heritage based on its belief that past leadership can provide important resources and insights for future development.Perdana Leadership Foundation
Retrieved 16 September 2016 A tax-exempt, non-profit organisation, the Foundation intends to become the premier institution for the study of Malaysia’s past Prime Ministers and the central resource centre for research into national stewardship as well as a platform for reflection, debate, and discussion with distinguished figures in Malaysian leadership. A broader objective is to initiate greater understanding and co-operation through research and idea-sharing, while inspiring a positive change in the values of

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

ns throughout the world. Established in early 2003, the idea was mooted by Mathias Chang, Political Secretary to the Prime Minister and was well accepted by the government and private sectors. Thus, a special trust committee was formed with members mostly from private sector and headed by Tan Sri Datuk Seri Azizan Zainul Abidin (President, Putrajaya Corporation; President,

Petronas Petroliam Nasional Berhad, commonly known as PETRONAS (stylised in all caps), is a Malaysian Multinational corporation, multinational petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. Established in 1974, it is a lega ...

) to materialize this idea. The Foundation was launched by then-Prime Minister, Datuk Seri

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi (, ; 26 November 1939 – 14 April 2025), also known as Pak Lah, was a Malaysian politician and civil servant who served as the fifth prime minister of Malaysia from 2003 to 2009. A member of UMNO, he was the party's ...

on 10 May 2005. Before that, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad launched the Perdana Library on 29 April 2004.

Objectives

Objectives of Perdana Leadership Foundation: * To research, document, disseminate and publicise the intellectual legacies of Malaysia’s past prime ministers. * To elucidate and illuminate the contribution of Malaysia’s past Prime Ministers in the social, economic and political development of the nation. * To create awareness of the development process of the nation and serve as a platform for future development. * To be a resource centre of policies, strategies and initiatives that were adopted under Malaysia’s various prime ministers which may be used and adapted as models for the development of other nations. The Foundation’s broader objective is to promote global understanding by providing a channel for scholars and thinkers to undertake research and idea-sharing.

Administration

Its Honorary President is the fourth & seventh prime minister, Tun Dr

Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...

. The foundation also has a Board of Trustees, chaired by Tan Sri Dato' Azman Hashim, whose members are prominent figures in the banking, education and property sectors. Day-to-day management is headed by Tan Sri Datuk Nik Mohamed Nik Yaacob, formerly the CEO of Sime Darby Berhad.

Library

The Foundation operates a physical and digital library, the Perdana Library which provides direct access to a wealth of information on Malaysia's past Prime Ministers. The Library collects, organises, preserves and disseminates materials by and about Malaysia's national leaders and events connected to them, and outlines the policies, strategies and initiatives they adopted. In line with the Foundation's objective of disseminating information on Malaysian leadership, these materials are digitised and are made available to the public through the Internet. To date, the Foundation has close to 10,000 items in its physical collections (including photos and audio video materials) and more than three hundred and thirty thousand records in its digital collections. Some of the Library's resources can be accessed for fre
via the Foundation's website
while others are available only to members.

Digital Preservation Initiative

The Foundation actively digitises materials connected to the leadership history of the country. These materials include speeches, books, news clippings, magazine articles, videos and audio tapes. It collaborates with the

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

and the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, ...

to digitise these institutions' holdings (with a copy handed back to the source institution) and seeks to take this initiative nationwide to centralise and digitise materials of historical import. To date, the Foundation has digitised more than three hundred thirty thousand documents, equivalent to more than eight million pages, consisting of speeches of former PMs, news clippings, journal articles, and Parliamentary Hansards. In terms of technology, the Foundation has invested in a book scanning machine, OCR software and an upgraded search engine to enable more efficient research.

Building

The building is located at Precinct 8,

Putrajaya Putrajaya (), officially the Federal Territory of Putrajaya (), is the administrative centre of Malaysia. The Seat of government, seat of the Government of Malaysia, federal government of Malaysia was moved in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajay ...

. This building is equipped with facilities such as a Library (Perdana Library), auditorium, meeting rooms, administrative offices and a banquet hall.

References

External links

* * {{facebook, Perdana Leadership Foundation Organizations established in 2003 2003 establishments in Malaysia Educational organisations based in Malaysia Educational foundations Foundations based in Malaysia Non-profit organisations based in Malaysia Organisations based in Putrajaya