Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, has been
appointed honorary president of the UK-based think tank AccountAbility.
Anwar, a prominent advocate of democracy and the rule of law, has said
he will press companies to become ‘more accountable to their customers
and communities, not just their shareholders’.
On his appointment, Anwar said: ‘We are living in an age of unchecked
corporate power. Gazprom wields power over the Ukrainians, Yahoo and
Google have been compromised in their entry into the Chinese
marketplace, and Tesco and Wal-Mart can manipulate entire global supply
chains. Yet currently these organizations are accountable only to their
shareholders.’
Anwar hopes to see the gaps closing during his tenure at
AccountAbility, which is an international non-profit institute that
tries to hold the power of organizations to account. It works as a
research body and standards developer.
