Mohd Nizam Mahshar

Mohd Nizam Mahshar is an activist, author and influential figure in the field of administration and public policy. Throughout his involvement in these fields, his leadership qualities were exhibited in several well-known organisations including Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM)., Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (DPMM) and the Institute for the Future of Malaysia (Institute MASA)
== Biography ==
He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Geophysics) from the University of Science Malaysia (USM)
== Involvement ==
Unlike his other peers, Mohd. Nizam filled his youth with activism and since 2009 has responsibly held various positions in several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and think-tank organisations, which have successfully impacted policy making in Malaysia at both the state and the Federal level.
Mohd. Nizam’s capacity as a professional has sharpened in his leadership; negotiation and persuasion attributes; qualitative studies; strategic planning; analytical considerations; collaboration; policy and creative writing and relationship management.
All of these skills were acquired through his more than a decade of experience as an NGO leader. Note that his skills are concentrated in economics and administration in line with his previous positions.
=== Leadership ===
Mohd Nizam was the Executive Director of the Penang Center for Socioeconomic Studies (PreCise) from 2009 to 2011. During that time, PreCise successfully produced the Bumiputera Socio-Economic Status Report in Penang for Prime Minister's Department (Economic Planning Unit). The report paved the way for several entrepreneurial development projects to be carried out in Penang.
==== MTEM ====
Subsequently, he held the position of Chief Executive Officer at MTEM from 2011 to 2016. His jointly-formed MTEM successfully secured 63 business-oriented NGOs comprising 500,000 members. While at MTEM, he successfully launched a massive protest campaign against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). As Chairman of the TPPA's Opposition Agency, he has attended dozens of meetings and negotiations on the TPPA with key figures from the United States, Japan and Singapore. He currently continues to be a Trustee of MTEM.
As one of the co-founders, Mohd. Nizam saw MTEM grow from a small NGO with high dreams to an organization that is the hope of the nation and the country. During his tenure as CEO, he spurred involvement in the development of Malay economic MTEM not only through a series of discussions and advocacy with government departments, and even much down to the grassroots through entrepreneurial development programs.
Through intense entrepreneurialship, his efforts helped the MTEM Malay entrepreneurs to market their products more widely and systematically through the establishment LOKA, a local brand sales center located in the strategical NU Sentral, Kuala Lumpur. LOKA is a manifestation of the localism agenda that MTEM has implemented over the three years of organizing the Gemilang Entrepreneur program.
A notable awareness campaign setup by MTEM under the leadership of Mohd. Nizam is the #sayaZahra campaign in 2015. The campaign raised the awareness among the public and governmental leaders about the survival of young people in an oppressive economic environment that sparked the attention of the media and the public through social media.
==== DPMM ====
After gracefully resigning as MTEM Chief Executive Officer, Mohd. Nizam was duly appointed Secretary General of DPMM for two years beginning in 2017. While there he managed to transform the DPMM into a credible international and local organization.
Mohd. Nizam is also a member of the Malaysian Economic Action Council since 2019 and has served as an Advisor to the International Development and Sustainability Studies Association (IDRIS) since 2017.
==== MASA ====
At the start of 2019, he became a Member of the Board of Trustees and Chief Executive Officer of the MASA Institute. The MASA Institute is a think tank for the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).
=== Achievement ===
The highest achievement to date of the MASA Institute was to formulate the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (WKB2030). This policy guides the development of economic and social policies for the Malaysian government for the coming 10 years. WKB2030 was a joint effort and co-authored by the MASA Institute, the Prime Minister's Department, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs Malaysia. 
As an activist and leader, Mohd. Nizam shares his expertise in areas such as Developmental Economy; Policy Analysis and Development; Civil Society Development; Administration and Democracy; Entrepreneurship; Transformation and Recovery; Conflict Management and Change and Sustainability.
He has contributed and authored many articles in various mediums, including books, reports, manuals, and other types of mass media types.
Among them is the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (2019), co-authored with the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Malaysia (author and editor); Towards Achieving Shared Prosperity Vision in Malaysia (2018) issue of MASA Institute (chief editor, contributor, and chief investigator); TPPA: Malaysia is Not for Sale (2014) issue of TPPA and MTEM (chief editor, contributor, and chief investigator); Long Road to Peace in the Southern Thai Conflict (2009) is the publication of AMANI (chief editor, contributor, and chief researcher) and Malaysian Environment in Crisis (2008) issue of Friends of Earth Malaysia (contributor).
He has also written major reports, including the Baseline Report on Bumiputera Socio-Economy (December 2019) published by the MASA Institute (editor-in-chief, contributor and chief investigator); The Myth of High Income Nation (2015) issue of MTEM (chief editor, contributor, and chief investigator); Penang Malay Socio-Economic Report - The Marginalized Malays (2011) issue of PRECISE (chief editor, contributor, and chief researcher).
The resulting manuals became benchmarks in Governance and Advocacy - Manual for Activist and Campaigner (2008) COMMUNITY publication (author); Environmental Manual for Activist and Campaigner (2007) Friends of the Earth (author) and Training Manual: How to be an Activist and Campaigner (2006) COMMUNITY (author) issue. In 2015, Mohd. The Nizam wrote 16 series of articles for the TPPA column in the Sunshine.
His achievements have not remained unnoticed and continue to be interviewed by various media’s including The Edge, Times, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Star, NST, Utusan Malaysia, Daily News, Malaysiakini, The Malaysian Insider, Sinar Harian, TV3, RTM, Astro Awani, Free Malaysia Today and BFM.
Category:Malaysian people
Category:Malaysian writers
Category:Malaysian activists