Update 12

Hello dear members

First and foremost I wish to offer ISM condolence to the family of Allahyarham Sr Hj Hashim Sikan who passed away on 8 Feb (Al-Fatihah)

How time just fly - its been a month since my last posting and I thought I had just update it until Hj Basar reminded me. Tried to rationalise why this month is exceptionally quick when I realise that February is only 28 not 31 days. As an employer its not "yeaaa payday!!" but "OMG another payday ??? I felt that I only see my staff for just a few days when I again realised that February consist of so many holidays including leaves due to FT day, Chinese New Year, & Maulidur Rasul. That is excluding MC submitted by some staff and extended leaves by all staff.


I started the month going about ISM duties when I attended the PAQS post-mortem meeting on 3 Feb to finalise the account and documenting lessons learnt. The next day on 4 Feb I chaired ISM Benevolent fund meeting. We amended and finalized the benefits for members under the benevolent fund namely medical relief of RM1,000 upon major sickness and contribution of benevolent token of RM3,000 to next of kin upon death of member. Please inform Ms Katherine of any members in such situation. In the afternoon I attended ISM 50th anniversary celebration meeting to discuss on activities and events in conjunction with ISM's 50th birthday in 2011.


On 5 Feb the councilors conduct a courtesy visit to the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) who is our next door neighbor. It seems that our visit is groundbreaking of sort cos although we are neighbors and we always bumped into each other in various governmental meetings but ISM and IEM had not sit down together in a meeting to discuss collaboration for mutual benefits. We decided to establish 3 joint working committees on Green Building & IBS, Property management services, and BS role in demolition of buildings. Other initiatives include ways to enhance relationship between the two professional institutions. IEM was also interested in the information presented by the GLS division on impact of earthquakes. It was a satisfying and fruitful visit which we both agreed need to be continued.


PSDC organized visit to East Coast Economic Region (ECER) in Kuantan on 8 -9 February which I attended on behalf of ISM. Briefings were made with regards to objectives, incentives and the PFI effort to ensure national development and economic growth. But at the moment most of the ECER efforts are based on government's infrastructure to attract investments.


12 Feb was a busy day for me on ISM matters. In the morning I attended a meeting organized by CIDB to discuss on CIDB Project Management Module for the construction industry. In the afternoon a meeting was conducted in ISM to discuss on memorandum to be forwared to MITI. I had requested Sr John Loh to head this memorandum working committee. In the evening I had a discussion with a PR firm to further refine on ISM public relations efforts.


We had our Management committee meeting on 22 Feb and issues discussed include ISM activities, operational issues, income and expenses, membership etc. We agreed to form a task force chaired by Deputy President Sr Elvin with regards to measures to reduce expenses and to increase income. The proposals recommended were forwarded in the council meeting held on 23 Feb. Since its just a week after the Chinese New Year, Ms Katherine had prepared a big bowl of "Yee Sang" with the councilors happily Yee Saing the condiments. On the 24 Feb another groundbreaking effort materialises when we held the Council of Past Presidents comprising 16 Past Presidents who had responded to our invitation to serve in such council. The council members appointed Dato' Sr Abdul Rahman Abdullah as the chair. The rationale for the formation are: for the Concil to perform to the standards as set by the previous presidents and also to guide the Councilors on strategic planning for ISM to move forward, to stay current and maintain the relevance of ISM and the profession. On 25 Feb I attended two meetings representing ISM in the BQSM Registration committee and the BQSM dinner committee. BQSM dinner is scheduled on the 23 of April 2010.


I wished to highlight here two important issues
1) Take note of one of our activity in March i.e. "GALAXY OF SURVEYING STARS" to be held on 16 March. Do attend this interesting seminar that put forward surveyors who have gone beyond the surveying professions.
2) The Council has proposed that "The Malaysian Surveyor" will become e-journal with hardcopies for universities, government agencies and corporate customers only. Any comments??
3) Take note of outreach programs (talks and seminars) throughout 2010 that will be organised sponsored under MIDA grant. These will be e-blast to members.


So there you go for the month of February 2010. Watch out in ISM website with regards to activities for March that we compiled and named as "Blast in March".


Salam
Sr Hjjh Wan Maimun Wan Abdullah