Perdana Leadership Foundation

Perdana Leadership Foundation is a foundation established to preserve, develop and spread information regarding former 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.

Another of its objectives is to initiate greater understanding and co-operation between the world's cultures, religions and ways of life, while inspiring a positive change in the values of Malaysians 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) to materialize this idea. The Foundation was launched by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on 10 May 2005. Before that, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad launched the Perdana Library on 29 April 2004.

Objectives of Perdana Leadership Foundation:

The Foundation’s broader objective is to promote global understanding by providing a channel for scholars and thinkers to undertake research and idea-sharing.

Its Honorary President is the fourth prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. 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 CEO of Sime Darby Berhad.

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 free via the Foundation's website while others are available only to members.

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