Muhammad bin Ibrahim: Challenges in compiling and communicating statistics in Malaysia Opening remarks by Mr Muhammad bin Ibrahim, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the National Statistics Conference (MyStats 2012), Kuala Lumpur, 9 November 2012. *  *  *  Saya berbesar hati untuk mengalu-alukan kepada semua yang hadir pada persidangan yang julung-julung kali diadakan ini, MyStats 2012, yang memperlihatkan sekali lagi kejayaan dalam usaha kerjasama di antara Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia dengan Bank Negara Malaysia. Saya juga amat gembira dan berbangga dengan sokongan yang ditunjukkan oleh para peserta yang mengambil bahagian hari ini, yang terdiri daripada sektor swasta dan sektor awam, pengguna dan perangkawan statistik, di samping rakan-rakan saya daripada Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC). Dengan kehadiran kumpulan yang mempunyai pelbagai kepentingan ini, saya yakin forum ini akan menjadi platform yang amat sesuai untuk kita berkongsi pandangan, bertukar-tukar pengetahuan dan pengalaman tentang statistik, dan akhirnya memperoleh manfaat besar daripada persidangan ini. I am pleased to welcome all of you to this inaugural conference, MyStats 2012, a collaborative effort between Department of Statistics Malaysia and Bank Negara Malaysia. I am also very encouraged by the strong support from all of you present here today, representing both the private and public sectors, users and compilers of statistics, and Executives members from the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC). With such a diversified interest group, I believe this forum will be an important platform for us to share views, exchange statistical knowledge and experiences.

Based on this premise, what should be the strategy, from the perspective of statisticians and users, to ensure the availability of new and appropriate data on a timely basis to meet future needs of users? 4. How can data compilers and users play a greater role inidentifying new data needs of a high income and high value added economy? 5. How can statisticians play a more proactive role in advising or communicating with users on the availability of appropriate data for analysis and surveillance to avoid the redundancy of data collection? These questions are by no means exhaustive but I hope our distinguished speakers and discussants today will address some of them. The speakers and discussants today represent a wide spectrum of group of compilers and users of statistics, who have vast experience in conducting significant research in many areas that uses national and international statistics. Through their presentations and discussions, we hope to learn from their knowledge and thinking on relevant issues in the field of statistics. We are also honoured to have two international speakers from the IFC who will talk about the international best practices in data management and country experiences in data sharing and communication of statistics. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank them in advance. I would also like to record our appreciation to the representatives from various national organisations for chairing the sessions and sharing their views on the topic that we had identified.