2019 BERITA JUNE AKITEK kdn no: pp 1022/08/2013(032931) PAM Awards & Annual Dinner 2019 20 July 2019 25 July 2019 PAM CPD: Industrialized PAM CPD: 200 Years of East Asia Architectural Experience: Building System (BIM) Learning from Westernization, Imperialism, Urbanization, by Dr. Sumarni Ismail and Capitalism by Prof. Shin Muramatsu PAM Centre PAM Centre 25-28 July 2019 31July & 01 August 2019 01 August 2019 mASEANa Student International Joint Course on Alternative Architectural Student Workshop Workshop 2019 @ Kuala Lumpur Dispute Resolution for Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur (IUKL) PAM Centre Practitioners C & S & TUS Rooms, 2nd Floor, Wisma IEM, Petaling Jaya, Selangor Cover: Stripes Hotel Kuala Lumpur by A. Mariadass Architect Kindly note that the scheduled events are subject to change. Please call PAM at 03-2202 2866 for confirmation. PAM AWARDS & ANNUAL DINNER 2019 Speech from PAM’s Annual Dinner (June 29th, 2019) First and foremost, having been passed this responsibility and On top of that, great design and enlightened clients will give us literally, this heavy chain of office from my predecessor, I must a world-renown skyline and national icons, which we indeed again thank all my fellow architects and friends here, who have have in Kuala Lumpur, the making of a world-class city. supported me and voted for me in this closely fought elections Putrajaya is also a global standard for a new city built from with the highest voter turnout in PAM’s history. I am honoured scratch in a short few years from a green field site of and humbled to stand before you today as PAM President and I plantations. Penang is an exemplary benchmark for a vibrant, renew my pledge today to do my very best for my colleagues, heritage-driven tourism economy instantly making good on its for the profession and for our community and nation for whom, UNESCO World Heritage listing. all architects ultimately serve. Spearheaded then and again today, by the vision of our Thank you everyone for taking time to attend our PAM Awards indomitable PM, Tun Mahathir - who by the way, is an Honorary & Annual Dinner this evening – it’s a full house of over 700 Fellow of our Institute of Architects - our Architects, engineers, architects & friends. We are especially grateful to Deputy contractors, tradesmen and workers – today cumulatively form Minister of Defense, YB Liew Chin Tong for being our Guest of a formidable economic resource and productive force for our Honor. It’s the first time a Minister of Defense is gracing our country. Architects’ gathering. Value of our architects’ services is 1/800 of the GDP while the But most important for me today, we are in the throes of a New ratio of architects to population is 1 in 15,000 people in Malaysia. And it is with deep belief and hope in the promise and Malaysia. This means our output to the national economy is vision of the New Malaysia, that I ran for the PAM President’s about 20 times more if compared to the per capita population. post. I feel an even greater sense of responsibility and urgency for PAM President and Council at this time. Not just ensuring the well-being of the public through safe, efficient and inspiring buildings, statistics show that in Because today, we live in a unique window in our nation’s Malaysia, architects rank highest among the professions, history, with a more inclusive, fearless and action driven surpassing lawyers, engineers, accountants in job creation political leaders at the helm of the New Malaysia. It is a window performance where 1 architect generates 4.2 jobs, about 4 for driving transformative change. times more compared to say, one lawyer. This is the time for PAM to seize the moment, backed by facts Our architects are talented and bold, highly skilled, most and figures, to call on policymakers in our still new importantly, highly experienced, but quite unarguably, an Government, to address urgent global agenda, the primary of underpaid industry despite our achievements as a profession which includes climate change, depleting natural sources, the and key contributor to our vibrant construction industry. threatened natural environment as well as the built environment challenged by intense urban migration and Yet the reality is the salaries of architects have stagnated at less population growth, increasingly inflation of basic necessities of than 0.5% growth per annum, in the past decade despite the food and housing, unemployment and underemployment. leaps of progress made in building our towns and cities. I do hope that is not why, on account of the low wages in our These global challenges are equally real in Malaysia. The profession, that we as a nation are ranked globally as the 22nd culture of transformative change in Malaysia is also an most competitive economy in the world. opportune time for us in the architects’ community, to resolve long-standing obstacles to improve our practice environment In any case, we see that the main cause of the inequitable and sustain the well-being of our architects. remuneration is the lack of compliance to our regulated Scale of Minimum Fees. Thus we shall make renewed and concerted Architecture and National Defense may seem a world apart but efforts working alongside Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia to address perhaps not. While YB Minister Liew ensures the security and this widespread, long-standing problem. well-being of our country and citizens, our architects also ensures the well-being of our people through creating good The city of Kuala Lumpur as we experience it today is places to live, work, play, to learn and to grow - homes, comparable, certainly not far from when you are in Singapore schools, hospitals, workplaces, parks, airports, train stations, or Melbourne, in amenities and quality of the urban places for commerce & tourism - all of which make up our environment. We must stand proud that we built our cities to towns and cities in Malaysia, which are highly regarded in the this high quality level even though our average income per world, a formidable achievement especially in consideration of capita in Malaysia is half of Singapore or half of the city of our national per capita income. Melbourne. Architects do believe good architecture and responsible city planning is a key foundation to building a quality of life, uplifting the happiness factor and creating a cohesive, resilient community and ultimately, a proud and strong Nation. 03 BA JUNE 2019 04 BA JUNE 2019 Today’s free trade pacts and increasingly borderless services PAM Architecture Excellence Award 2019 are putting severe pressure on our architects’ profession. Our Architects are often accused of perpetrating monopolistic I also wish to congratulate all the shortlisted and winners of this practices when in fact, these have been granted by our years PAM’s Design Excellence Awards which will be announced Malaysian laws, through the Architects Act 1967 that regulates later. Our annual PAM awards are a testimony of the skills and minimum fees, not to enrich Architects but to ensure that expertise, talent and the passion for design and dedication to sufficient resources and professional expertise is put into the craft of our architects’ community here in Malaysia. design and construction of building structures so that they are safe and conducive for their users. Recent deregulation of KLAF 2019 building permits processes in other countries appears to be now creating gaps in building safety standards as seen in I also wish to congratulate this year’s Festival Director Ar Dr Tan recent fire catastrophes in UK and Australia. Loke Mun and his dedicated team of volunteers for this year’s outstanding Kuala Lumpur Architecture Festival, a vibrant I’ve been told in the last few weeks, quite regrettably, that I’m thought-provoking and inspiring journey that telescopes on only the second woman PAM President in the almost century issues of basic shelter, food security and sustainability of the old history of our profession. But more meaningful for me is planet and our lives on Earth as we know it today, in the face of that this year, PAM achieved the national target for women depleting natural resources, climate change, urban migration, leadership with an unprecedented 30% women or 9 women humanitarian crisis and natural catastrophes, which compels us out of 27 in our PAM Council this year. to focus and commit towards a sustainable and innovative future. I thank my fellow architects in delivering the national target and you can be assured that you will see this year, a different The festival throws a lens on what everyone from young to old, PAM determined to reach out to women, to all genders, to from the able to the special needs, professionals and lay public, those with special needs and especially to the younger future can do as our individual bit to embrace living practices and Architects who will continue the task of community-building, working policies in our jobs and businesses that are kinder to and of nation-building of which our Architects profession is a the Earth and minimise negative impact to the environment. vital player, as a leader in the building industry, although often the Unsung Heroes and Heroines. I also thank the previous PAM President and Council for their dedication and efforts, which allow us to move further forward. In line with this, you will notice this year, that I have initiated several new committees for PAM. This is to rally our architects’ Finally and very importantly, as I stand humbly before you as community and to reinforce PAM’s commitment, to build our the newly elected PAM President, and in the spirit of Hari Raya architects’ advocacy role and leadership in these critical Maaf Zahir Batin, I would like to appeal for everyone to close national and global agenda.