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

Update 11

Dear members

Although the year started slowly but it built up towards the end of January to the extent that I had to push some of my commitent with a university to night classes and a few days ago to my embarrassment I totally forgot and missed two lectures when the students called me up as they were all waiting for me.

I met several ISM members who reminded me that I have not updated my blog - wow that is happiness. It seems that more and more members are reading my rambling and hope to see more current updates on ISM activities. It would make me more ecstatic if members could post comments on the blog. We also received glowing compliments with regards to the personalized diary given to fellows, members, graduate and probationer members. I'm so glad members loved it and appreciated it. It is part of branding ISM. My heart swelled when I saw members pulling out the diary from their bags either during internal ISM meetings or outside meetings.

I started the new year with ISM Management meeting on 8 Jan 2010. In the afternoon we arranged and escorted a group of Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers (SISV) members for a technical visit and briefing to the smart tunnel project office. The next day we had a dialogue session with SISV that included discussion on strategic alliances, enhancing relationship through CPD events, data exchange, collaborative events, etc. A Memorandum of Cooperation was also signed between ISM and SISV.

On 12 Jan 2010 I had a discussion with the secretariat of the Board of QS with regards to the accreditation of QS qualifications. I was scheduled to have an accreditation visit to the University of Portsmouth and University of Reading, and discussion with Aston University on 9 - 16 Jan 2010 but was postponed due to the severe weather in UK. I was initially disappointed as everything had been arranged to the last detail and the secretariat had put in alot of effort on the visit. But as we very well know God works in mysterious ways - I was glad the visit was postponed as suddenly my mum was hospitalised due to acute diabetic attack. I immediately balik kampong and told my mum I postponed the UK visit to be by her side !!

I was invited by UTM on 14 Jan 2010 for their APA evaluation being UTM alumni and the president of ISM. I was only able to be there for a day trip as the next day on 15 Jan, the China Institute of Norms and Standard paid a visit to ISM to learn more about Malaysia's construction industry generally and cost estimates specifically. We had to engage a Mandarin-speaking member to communicate. I wished I had taken up that Mandarin class that I had always intended to but not making time to get around to doing it. On 18 Jan I attended the meeting organised by CIDB on the Construction Industry Master Plan - Strategic Thrust 1 - with regards to the implementation of Partnering framework in construction contracts.

I again was in Johor on 19 Jan as invited by UTM to meet their MBA students. Similarly it was just a day trip as the next day on 20 Jan I had an appointment with a PR firm to discuss on its offer on publicity of ISM. In the afternoon a group of us visited Mr Lim Kim Hoe and Tn Hj Hashim Sikan. We also visited Mr Yee Shin Cheong on 21 Jan. Let us all pray for the well-being and health of our fellow members.

The whole day on 22 Jan was attending meetings in the Board of QS with regards to registration and its annual dinner. Again on 25 Jan I was in the Board of QS representing ISM in the Board meeting. And on 26 Jan we held our ISM council meeting. On 28 Jan we made a courtesy visit to the Board of Land Surveyors, Peninsula Malaysia. I thanked the Board and Pejuta on their untiring support on ISM activities and highlighted issues with regards to the prefix Sr, Strata title Board, ISM Blast in March and ISM 50th Anniversary celebration, Board's authority in collection of fees etc.

So that's it for January 2010. I wished a prosperous and happy Chinese New Year to all my chinese friends and members.

Salam
Sr Hjjh Wan Maimun Wan Abdullah