In picture: Tuanku Zara Salim in the centre. From L to R: Dr. Ragunath Bharath, Ir. Hong Wai Onn (Hon. Sec.), Prof. Ir. Dr. Law Chung Lim (Chair), Ir. Rafil Elyas (Deputy Chair), Ir. ChM Qua Kiat Seng and Ms. Tharshinye Soomaran (Country Manager).

On Tuesday 10th March 2020 some members of the new board (2020-2021) led by its chair Prof. Ir. Dr. Law Chung Lim paid a courtesy visit to its Royal Patron, the Queen of Perak, DYMM Raja Permaisuri Perak Darul Ridzuan Tuanku Zara Salim at Istana Perak in Kuala Lumpur.

Tuanku Zara Salim is a chemical engineer by training and she headed an oil and gas consultancy firm based in Kuala Lumpur before her marriage to the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah.

Discussions covered current headline news such as Covid-19, the crude oil price crash, the new line up of ministers and the challenges facing the palm oil industry. Understandably as a graduate of Nottingham University she wanted to keep up with the latest developments there. Law briefed her also on the actions being taken at his campuses in UK, Malaysia and China on Covid-19.

Law informed Tuanku Zara Salim that Malaysia has around 400 chartered members and this is increasing at about 10% annually. Hong noted that IChemE in Malaysia had a high percentage of women members at 43%. Hong said that IChemE has 15 student chapters at the universities and the number is growing. Qua added that there are 24 universities in Malaysia offering chemical engineering degrees.

Working with the student chapters and the MPOC (Malaysian Palm Oil Council) in conjunction with the Love MY Palm Oil campaign POPSIG is conducting its monthly university roadshow which started in August last year and the 8th was just completed earlier this month. The purpose is to tell chemical engineering undergraduates the truth about palm oil and to encourage them to work in the palm oil industry. A highlight of the roadshow is the field trip to the industry. Tuanku asked which was POPSIG’s favourite place to visit. Qua replied that it was Sime Darby Plantation in Carey Island for the Klang Valley universities. We told her we also brought the President of IChemE, Ken Rivers as well the VP Regions and CEO there for them to see first hand the sustainability of the palm oil industry. When Qua related that Rivers told him that his hometown Chester has been named Sustainable Palm Oil City, Tuanku was pleasantly surprised.

Tuanku said her favourite is the United Plantations Bhd Jendarata Estate which we will bring UTP (University Teknologi PETRONAS) undergraduates to when we conduct the roadshow at UTP in November.

When we discussed the negative views that the palm oil industry faced, Tuanku advised to publicise widely the facts. For instance she had learnt that the yield of palm oil is up to 8 times higher than other oil seed crops and this fact is very important in supporting the sustainability story of palm oil.

Tuanku was particularly interested in Law’s idea of going to schools in her home state of Perak. An idea is a career fair at UTP organised with its student chapter. Tuanku was also keen that we excite Form 3 – 5 students with ‘explosive’ experiments. That brought to Law’s mind the ‘mad’ professor Martyn Poliakoff from Nottingham University and his attention grabbing experiments on You Tube.

Before leaving Law formally invited Tuanku to attend this year’s IChemE Malaysia Awards 2020 dinner on Monday 19th October. We are delighted that Tuanku accepted the invitation the very next day.