At the Malaysian Economic Symposium held at the Parliament, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been tasked to double down on Pakatan Harapan’s promise to move away from race-based economic policies. During his speech, Anwar Ibrahim said that a new policy would still include affirmative action , but it would involve a needs-based approach instead. For insights on Malaysia’s poverty reduction policies, we speak to Dr Nur Ain Shahrier, Senior Lecturer of Economics at Sunway University.