Getting titles right in the engineering field in Malaysia

RECENTLY, the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) received an enquiry on the usage of the title “Engr.” for members of the institution.

http://www.myiem.org.my/default.aspx?redirect=oldsite

The title “Ir” was first introduced by IEM in the early 1970s for both the graduate and corporate members of the Institution. The amendment to the Registration of Engineers Act in 1987 provided for the use of the title “Ir” to registered professional engineers only.

With this development, IEM had to amend its constitution to disallow the use of the said title. Hence, the title “Ir” which once signified the membership of the Institution was taken away.

Since then, IEM has strongly felt that there was a need to provide an identity for the members of the Institution. Many suggestions and calls were made for the institution to look into the issue of a suitable title for its graduate and corporate members who are qualified engineers with accredited and recognised engineering degrees.

Therefore in 2006, the use of the pre-nominal “Engr” for the graduate and corporate members was introduced with the aim of not only giving due recognition and honour to the engineers, but also encouraging the younger generation to take up engineering.

However, in 2009, IEM further amended the constitution to allow only graduate members and corporate members, who are not professional engineers, to use the title “Engr” before their names. This will clearly distinguish between the title “Ir” for professional engineers and “Engr” for IEM members who are not professional engineers.

Moreover, the usage of the title “Engr” shall be used in conjunction with the post-nominal of “FIEM”, “MIEM” or “Grad IEM”, whichever is appropriate. As such, the use of pre-nominal “Engr” shall not be construed to imply that the person is a professional engineer.

With the progress of society and the Government’s aspiration for Malaysia to achieve the status of a developed nation by 2020, IEM shall always support the Government’s vision to produce more qualified engineers who will play a very important role in nation-building.

IEM graduate members can use the title “Engr” with pride and confidence as their degrees have been vetted and recognised by the Institution.

The admission as graduate members of IEM is only accorded to the holders of engineering degrees accredited under the Washington Accord. In so far as the approving authorities are concerned, the title “Engr” does not pose any confusion because all submission of plans need to have the stamp of a professional engineer (P.Eng.) with the title “Ir” as required by the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM).

http://www.bem.org.my/v3/index.html

“Engr” is now a title where members of the institution who are not professional engineers can be addressed.

This will give high recognition and honour to the engineers and promote the growth of the engineering profession for the progress of the nation.

Currently, there are more than 10,500 members of IEM who are entitled to use the title “Engr”

By IR YAM TEONG SIAN Secretary Institution of Engineers, Malaysia

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China says: we can build High Speed Rail by 2020; Malaysia and Singapore push back deadline

Making connections: Liow (left) speaking with Liu Yunshan, secretary of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. - By Patrick Lee The Star/Asia News Network

KUALA LUMPUR: China is confident that it can build the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) line by 2020.

China embassy’s economic and commercial counsellor Wu Zhengping expressed confidence that the original target date could be met – within certain parameters.

“Technically, it’s possible if Chinese companies are awarded the contract. We will be able to achieve that by 2020. We’ve still got five years,” he told The Star in an interview.

He was commenting on reports that the HSR line would not meet its original target date.

Wu pointed out that it took a mere three years to build the 1,318km Beijing-Shanghai HSR line, which was completed in 2010. It opened to the public in June 2011.

The 350km Kuala Lumpur-Singapore line is expected to cost about RM40bil while there are matters between Malaysia and Singapore which are expected to be ironed out by year end.

Wu said China was determined to build the line, adding that it would fall in with its plans to link Kunming to Singapore via some 2,700km of rail.

Calling it the “Pan-Asian Railway”, he indicated that this would cut through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia.

He added that not all of this railway might be high-speed lines, especially in Laos, which has rough, mountainous terrain.

Wu said the HSR traffic might not be enough to justify building such a line but spoke of an economic “spillover effect” if it were to happen.

Chinese companies here, he added, might even start to develop areas near the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur line.

“If China is awarded the contract (in Malaysia), we’ll encourage Chinese companies to locate their factories and firms along the railway line,” he said.

He also said there were plans to build high-speed train cars in Malaysia should China be given the contract.

Asked what would China do if Chinese companies were unable to win the HSR bid, Wu said Malaysia had given assurance that this would be “open, fair and transparent”.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who is in Beijing on an official visit, said while he welcomed the offer from China, the open tender would only be called after details of the project had been thrashed out between Malaysia and Singapore.

He said a memorandum bet­ween the two countries would be signed by end of this year, adding that it would then take another year to complete the technical study.

“By then, only we would know what is the actual period (needed to build the line).

“It is too early to say that the project can be completed by 2020 when we do not have the details yet,” he said.

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Singapore, Malaysia push back deadline for high-speed rail link -
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SINGAPORE - Singapore and Malaysia have decided to push back an initial deadline of 2020 for the completion of a high-speed rail link between the wealthy city state and Kuala Lumpur, their prime ministers said on Tuesday, citing the complexity of the project.

The Southeast Asian neighbours said they hoped to reach agreement by the end of the year on a new timeline for the railway link, which will cut travel time between the cities to 90 minutes.

"We looked at the original timeline of 2020, and think it is not really realistic," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told a news conference, adding that the project was very challenging to carry out.

"We have to take a bit more time to do it well, but to do it without delay."

Singapore and Malaysia set a completion date of 2020 when they announced plans for the high-speed rail link in February 2013, but gave no estimate of the project cost.

Hailed at the time as a major breakthrough by some analysts, the announcement reflected an improvement in ties between the neighbours. Singapore was once part of Malaysia but they separated acrimoniously in 1965, clouding diplomatic and economic dealings for decades.

On Tuesday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said construction of the link with the Malaysian capital would take five years, design one year and the tendering process another year. "We both decided that bilateral issues pertaining to the high-speed rail project will be settled by the end of the year," Najib said.

Can Malaysia's household debt at 87.9% in 2014 be reduced to 54% ?

BEING a teenager, my granddaughter started to pick up interest on how the economy works, what are the real assets and liabilities in one’s financial planning. As the topic itself can be slightly “dry”, I made an attempt to discuss it in a way that was easier for her to digest.

“Our national household debt to GDP ratio edged up to 87.9% last year. Is the number alarming?” she asked one day.

“It depends. We have good debts and bad debts in life. For example, 10 years later, our new cars may have depreciated more than 80% and our new clothes would have been worn out. Those are liabilities. On the other hand, houses are assets as they will appreciate in the long run. Debts which are backed by appreciating assets are considered good debts,” I said.

As she nodded in agreement with my simple explanation of good debts and bad debts, her question has piqued my curiosity to look into the details of our household debt.

Overall, is our nation having more good debts or bad debts?

Bank Negara report shows that our household debt was at RM940.4bil or 87.9% of GDP as at end of 2014. Residential housing loans accounted for 45.7% (RM429.7bil) of total debts, hire purchase at 16.6%, personal financing stood at 15.7%, non-residential loans were 7.7%, securities at 6.5%, followed by credit cards and other items at 3.9% respectively.

At first glance, our residential housing loans were the highest among all types of household debts. However, a recent McKinsey Global Institute Report highlighted that in advanced countries, mortgages or housing loans comprise 74% of total household debt on average. As a country that aspires to be a developed nation by 2020, our housing loans that stand at 45.7% is considered low. In other words, we are spending too much on other depreciating items instead of appreciating assets like houses.

If advanced economies, which are usually consumer nations, have only 26% debts on non-housing loans, we shouldn’t have as high as 54% loans on items such as hire-purchase (which are mostly cars), personal loans, credit cards and others.

If we were to follow the household debt ratio of advanced economies, our housing loans of RM429.7bil should be at 74% of total household debts, and other loans should be reduced from 54% to 26%, i.e. from RM510.7bil to RM150.9bil. With such reduction, total household debt would be slashed significantly from RM940.4bil to RM580.6bil (existing housing loans plus reduced non-housing loans), the amount would be at 54.2% of GDP instead of 87.9%.

I am wondering why we can’t have a household debt to GDP ratio of 54.2% as illustrated above. Are we spending too much on depreciating items?

Non-housing loans comprise mainly borrowings for cars, personal loans and credit cards. Car value depreciates about 10% to 20% per year based on insurance calculation and accounting practice. Borrowings for personal loans and credit card are also likely to depreciate over time which can be dubbed as “bad debt”.

Perhaps it is time for the Government to introduce massive cooling off measures for non-housing loans in order to curb bad debt in our household debt.

According to our Deputy Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister, our homeownership rate currently stands at 50% and the Government strives to increase the number with more affordable homes. As a comparison, almost 85% of Singaporeans are homeowners.

We can expedite the above vision if more stringent measures are imposed on non-housing loans, it will free up more resources for household financial planning. The rakyat should be encouraged to secure a roof over their heads with effective execution of affordable housing policy by the Government.

It is time to re-look our debt categories and reallocate our resources appropriately. If we are willing to cut back on cars, clothes, shoes and other depreciating items, reducing a household debt to GDP ratio of 54.2% is not only an aspiration, but an achievable reality.

By ALAN TONG Food for Thought

And the more beneficial effect is, more rakyat will have the financial resources to own a house, which is both a shelter and an appreciating asset.

■ FIABCI Asia-Pacific regional secretariat chairman Datuk Alan Tong has over 50 years of experience in property development. He is also the group chairman of Bukit Kiara Properties. For feedback, please email feedback@fiabci-asiapacific.com.

 
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