KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 7): I am pleased to announce the launch of my debut book titled "What's in a Name". From Nov 8, the book will be available in most bookstores and online pre-orders will start to be fulfilled.

"What's in a Name" is a book of reflections about what I witnessed, the key events that defined me and my life, how I rationalised all of it and my ideas on the way forward for our nation.

It spans family, career, business, and politics in Malaysia. Tun Razak (former prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein) left us when I was nine years old, and this book-writing project gave me the opportunity to understand my father; the person and the leader.

It made me realise that his most important legacy lies in the more intangible set of values, principles, and methods he applied, whereas the tangible institutions, policies, or programmes he had established may or may not be suited for different times.

Several important threads run through the book including the importance of context in decision-making and how we understand what others have done.

It is also about the hard choices that one has to make, not just as a country but as individuals.

I recount for instance my anxieties in relation to many events that unfolded such as the tough first few years of my career at CIMB, banking mergers, and the 1MDB crisis.

At the end of the book, I provide a critical analysis of the workings of the Malaysian political economy, discuss what ails us as a nation, and suggest that we need to engage our collective imaginations to create a better Malaysia for all.

I argue that the path to a better future may well lie in our past, in the form of a new deliberative platform similar to the National Consultative Council of 1970. I am honoured that early copies of my book have already been read and endorsed by Malaysians of different generations and backgrounds as well as well-known international figures.

The United Kingdom version of the book will go on sale on Nov 18. The Malay version of the book is in the final stages of translation and will be available next year.