Navaratnam was a member of the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM), the National Economic Action Council (NEAC) and the former president of Transparency International Malaysia.
He is currently the Director of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI) and the Chairman of the Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS).
He completed his secondary studies at Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur, and won a partial scholarship to the University of Malaya in Singapore, where he pursued a degree in Economics in 1959.
In 1971 and 1972, he was selected to represent Malaysia as alternate executive director in the World Bank in Washington DC.
His post required him to travel to South-East Asian countries, where he helped to brief officials on developments in World Bank policies and the progress of their applications for loans.