IChemE president and ceo visit Malaysia and Singapore
9th May 2012
IChemE president Sir William Wakeham visited Singapore and Malaysia last month to meet members as well as industry and academic representatives. He was accompanied by IChemE ceo David Brown and Regional South East Asia Manager Mohan Balasingam.
PETRONAS Chemicals Group hosted a networking event with Sir William at the PETRONAS Twin Towers on Thursday 12 April. Sir William met with Kamarudin Zakaria, PETRONAS VP Downstream and a past chairman of IChemE in Malaysia, and Datuk Wan Zulkiflee, COO of PETRONAS and IChemE Honorary Fellow.
Sir William in his presentation “Advancing chemical engineering in Malaysia – unlocking potential, delivering chemical engineering futures” shared his thoughts on the key role played by chemical engineering in delivering sustainable growth. He cited several examples of Malaysian chemical engineering work that impact directly on some of the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs). Sir William asserted that chemical engineers are central to the successful delivery of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
Sir William said that progress will be achieved through strong partnerships between government, industry and academia with the support of strong professional institutions, and argued that six of the eleven industry sectors identified as part of the ETP depend upon chemical and process engineering expertise: “Chemical engineering is central to the oil, gas and energy sector but it also takes an often unseen role elsewhere. Growing Malaysia’s palm oil and rubber, electronics and electrical, education, healthcare and agriculture sectors will all depend upon a steady supply of chemical engineering expertise.”
Sir William, in one of his final duties as president of IChemE before handing over the chains of office in May, also revealed the results of an international survey conducted by IChemE earlier this year which shows that half of the Malaysia-based participants consider there to be better prospects for chemical engineers in the country than there were a year ago, and almost two-thirds believe that Malaysian government policies support a healthy chemical and process sector.
When the floor was opened for questions Ir Choo Kok Beng, Deputy President of IEM, remarked, 'IChemE has demonstrated that talented technical people who have not graduated as chemical engineers can be members of IChemE and nurtured to be Chartered Chemical Engineers. This can be emulated by IEM and other engineering societies.'
Choo who has a special interest in the CMLV countries urged IChemE through its Malaysia branch to spread the services of chemical engineering to other Southeast Asian countries especially Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia (CLMV).
After his presentation Sir William presented IChemE Fellowship certificates to three senior Malaysian process industry figures. The Associate Fellow grade was developed by IChemE to recognise non chemical engineers who hold senior posts within the profession. The new Associate Fellows are: Johari Bin Basri, the Director General of the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, and board member of the Board of Engineers, Malaysia (BEM), Abd Hapiz Abdullah, the President and CEO of PETRONAS Chemicals Group, and Chairman of the Chemical Industries Council of Malaysia (CICM). Sofiyan Yahya, the Chairman and CEO of Cekap Technical Services Sdn Bhd, and President of the Malaysian Oil & Gas Services Council (MOGSC).
Sir William also presented appointment letters to the following members: Mike Fox, Development Manager of Talisman Malaysia Ltd as Chairman of Special Interest Group (SIG) Oil and Natural Gas (SONG) in Malaysia, Christina Phang, Managing Partner of ERM in Malaysia as Chairman of SIG Safety & Loss Prevention (S&LP) in Malaysia, Jeffrey Khor Chooi Beng, General Manager, Operations Technical of BASF PETRONAS Chemicals (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd as IChemE Regional Member Representative for the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, and Tan Geok Chai, Managing Director, Pacific Oleochemicals Sdn Bhd as IChemE Regional Member Representative for the South of Peninsular Malaysia.
In the evening, board members of IChemE in Malaysia hosted a dinner for Sir William where he had the opportunity to meet with Young Engineer Group members vice-deputy chairman Ian Tang from Shell and secretary Vincent Yap from SBM. Yap said he was inspired by Sir William and his vision for chemical engineering. “I received invaluable advice from Sir William and he stressed the importance of our role as young chemical engineers not only in IChemE but also in connecting with fresh university graduates.”
At the end of the event Kamarudin brought Sir William and IChemE in Malaysia board members to the Skybridge on the 42nd level of the PETRONAS Twin Towers for a spectacular view of Kuala Lumpur city. Sir William and Brown also met with the Deputy Vice Chancellor of University Malaya Professor Dr Mohd Hamdi Bin Abd Shukor. After the meeting with Hamdi Sir William delivered a talk on “Challenges for the curriculum, consequences for educators” to senior lecturers and some undergraduates and post graduate students. During the question and answer session, Sir William took numerous questions from the lecturers.
Sir William’s visit attracted the attention of the media and one newspaper headline was “Malaysia needs more chemical engineers to meet the challenges” whilst another was “IChemE chiefs to spur Malaysia’s talents.”
“I understand that the UK Prime Minister who is also in Malaysia, referred to the Malaysian economy as a heavyweight and that is something that equally applies to the part of the chemical and process engineering component of it and my visit has certainly convinced me of the quality and energy of the people in those sectors in both industry and universities. I also like to think that, now IChemE has 4000 members within Malaysia, that we shall play an important role in the development of the profession in Malaysia by benchmarking and accrediting courses, training and individuals,” said Sir William.
He added: “I have been truly impressed with the commitment of members in Malaysia, particularly those who serve on the Board and those who contribute their volunteer efforts to the organisation, to the values of IChemE in its quest for excellence in a profession that has much more to contribute economically and socially to Malaysia and the world. My visit was, I hope, one small way for us to say thank you to show how much we appreciate those efforts and to reaffirm our willingness to work in partnership to achieve our goals for chemical engineering.”