Maha Balakrishnan is a Research Fellow at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network-Asia Headquarters in Sunway University, Malaysia.
Maha is an analyst, content producer and trainer on democratic development, parliamentary process and rights-based policymaking. She read law at the University of Bristol, U.K. and obtained a Masters in Democracy and Comparative Politics from University College London, U.K.
In her 12-year career as a lawyer, Maha practised civil, commercial and public administrative law at the Malaysian Bar and contributed extensively to the Malaysian Bar’s public advocacy work. During her time in legal practice, Maha participated in Royal Commissions of Inquiry and co-produced policy papers on legal and institutional reform.
Upon shifting her focus to democratic development and public policy, Maha combines the disciplines of law and political science to provide advisory and consultancy services to international organisations, foreign missions, NGOs and think tanks. She is the National Democratic Institute (NDI)’s parliamentary consultant in Malaysia and the principal facilitator of NDI Malaysia’s Akademi Parlimen initiative.
Maha co-authored Malaysian Parliamentary Procedure: A Guide to the Standing Orders of the Dewan Rakyat (2020), which is the seminal practitioner’s guide to the Malaysian Parliament’s Lower House. She also co-produced NDI Malaysia’s series of educational videos on parliamentary process in Malaysia. She is a contributing author to Sweet & Maxwell’s Law, Principles and Practice in the Dewan Rakyat of Malaysia (2020), and has published several other works on Malaysia’s democracy and institutional design. Maha has also published papers on women’s political participation, freedom of expression, official secrecy laws and censorship laws.
Maha is a non-parliamentary member of the Malaysian Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Political Financing, and the APPG on Institutional Governance & Anti-Corruption. She is also a member of the Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (FINAS)’s subcommittee on Law, Technology and Arts Synergy.