Danial Rahman
CEO, Asian Strategy & Leadership Incorporated (ASLI)
Danial is Chief Executive Officer of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Incorporated (ASLI), a non-partisan not-for-profit think-tank, owned and governed by the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation. Having started his career as a human rights and constitutional law lawyer, Danial’s professional journey has traversed policy, education, media and technology.
After a stint in litigation, he has gone on to serve as Press Secretary to two Federal Ministers across three Ministries (Education, Higher Education and Finance). Among his career highlights include co-writing the 2021 Budget speech and a successful IPO with an Australian EdTech company on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2019.
An avid writer, Danial has been a columnist for TheStar newspaper since 2014 and has written over 90 columns ranging from education, technology, and social issues. (List of columns here: www.thestar.com.my/opinion/columnists/whats-your-status?bycat=418_1564141574)).
He occasionally hosts “The Nation”, a current-affairs TV talk show on BERNAMA (Malaysia’s National News Agency) where he focuses on economic and finance related matters. He has interviewed the Minister of Economy Malaysia, Chief Economist of the World Bank, Deputy Finance Minister, as well as various CEOs, ambassadors, and international organisation representatives.
As a speaker, Danial has been invited to give talks on the history and trends in artificial intelligence, future of work, disinformation and UN Sustainable Development Goals to government, financial institutions, GLCs and more. As a debate and public speaking coach, he has conducted training around the region, including China and South Korea. With the International Institute of Public Policy and Management (INPUMA), University of Malaya, Danial has conducted workshops on public policy as well as strategic communications for civil servants.
Danial has a master’s in law from the University of Oxford, and an LLB from the International Islamic University Malaysia.
Fun facts: He enjoys playing badminton and squash. He has 2 cats and runs their Instagram account – @tuanramses.
