I did not until recently, when a bill was tabled in Parliament on July 16 for a formal and welcome transformation to make it a proper sovereign fund with clearly set requirements.
The fund size is now RM22.4 billion, after the short-lived Muhyiddin Yassin government dipped its fingers into the pot to pull out RM5 billion for Covid-19 vaccines. As if this amount could not have been obtained from operating expenses.
Not many know that we had a plan for a sovereign wealth fund from 1988, which was resource-based - to be funded from depleting resources such as oil and other natural products. Pity - we were great first movers but not doers.
Amazingly and tragically, it was flawed from the start when it was to be set up with voluntary contributions from national oil company Petronas and other bodies. Only Petronas contributed, with RM13.5 billion up to 2021 and a further RM3 billion in 2023, according to reports.
These helped build up Kwan’s assets to...