But beneath this sense of calmness is a tense undercurrent. There is an underlying anxiety that prevails beyond the realm of economics, for example in relation to issues of international security, environmental change, and the global spread of disease. Despite the tremendous progress that has been achieved in many of these areas through international treaties and institutional efforts globally, anxieties remain. Extreme views are becoming more prevalent in both side of the aisle, and manifests in the form of backlash against conventional wisdom, and the establishments. We ought to be circumspect in expressing our views. As individuals and institutions that have influence to mould public thought and perception, we have the added 4/8  BIS Central Banker's Speeches  responsibility to be balanced. We should not be too eager to discard all wisdom that have been carefully amassed over many years but at the same willing to adapt to new thinking, new circumstances and new possibilities. As policy-makers and economists, these contemporary issues confronting the field of economics are indeed reinvigorating. New rules are being made. Old rules revisited. The contradictory forces that I mentioned earlier, are causing great policy tensions. The policies that have been implemented and experimented in recent years by policy-makers across the world might themselves appear in contradictions. And the fact that the performance so far has been mixed does not invoke confidence in some of the policy prescriptions.
These ranged from continued experimentation of unconventional monetary policies and the need to ‘balance’ that, with preserving financial stability, to the continued reemphasis in fiscal and structural policies in both advanced and emerging economies. But in facing a world of paradoxes, perhaps we too need to take full advantage of the strong foundations and conventions that were built in the past, yet remain sufficiently nimble and unafraid to rethink and reconstruct in facing the uncertain future. Errors will be inevitable, but the more important point is our ability to correct them and to remain committed to achieving the right outcomes. This is true for policies of central banks as well. Bank Negara Malaysia’s Approach to Monetary Policy Within this context, please do allow me to share with you the approach to monetary policy that Bank Negara Malaysia takes. Bank Negara Malaysia’s decision-making processes and governance framework today reflect the combination of the efforts and progress since the establishment of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) a decade and a half ago. Not many of you might be aware, but the MPC had its first meeting in 2002. In fact, the upcoming MPC meeting in November would mark our 100th MPC meeting since 2002. Before that, monetary policy formulation was conducted under the absence of an established framework and a standard structure. Over the years however, the MPC has evolved and enhanced its effectiveness as the sole body responsible for the formulation of Malaysia’s monetary policy and policies for the conduct of monetary policy operations.