INTERVIEW | Seated at a coffee bar in Bangsar, it is not immediately apparent to other clientele that the soft-spoken bespectacled man opposite this writer is helming a key ministry in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration.

Chang Lih Kang was elected to his second term as Tanjung Malim MP in GE15 and was then appointed the science, technology and innovation minister.

The 42-year-old is among the youngest cabinet ministers in the new government, alongside PKR colleagues Fahmi Fadzil, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad and Ewon Benedick.

A civil engineering graduate from Universiti Putra Malaysia, Chang feels strongly that science and technology cannot be the purview of a select few, but needs to reach...