Update 4

In the weeks ahead, before the start of the fasting month, the activities at the ISM HQ include the meeting of the Special Committee set up to organise activities for the 50 Year celebrations in 2011, The Management Committee meeting on 20 July and the First Council Meeting for Session 50 on 28 July. Divisional, Branch and other subcommittee meetings are also being held.

The 14th PAQS Congress and Board meeting are to be held in Singapore from 23 to 27 July 2010. The venue is the Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore and the hosts are the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers (SISV) with the congress theme, Sustainable Cost Management: Borderless Innovation. Kindly view this website for registration - http://paqs2010.com.sg. The PAQS website is www.paqs.net.

The 16th ASEAN Valuers Congress with the Theme "Toward a New Era of Valuation Development" is being held at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Bangkok from the 22 to 24 July 2010. On the day before, on 21 July, in the evening the AVA Governing Council meets. The Asean Valuation Association (AVA) was established in June 1981 with five founding members namely, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. In 1990s, AVA was extended to include Brunei and Vietnam. Cambodia is the new member joined in 2009. Two other Asean countries namely Laos and Myanmar are not officially members yet as there are no formal valuation professions in these countries. They are now having observer status in AVA. Each country is represented by seven valuers from the public and private sectors and the academia to form the Governing Council. The AVA holds a congress once every two years on a rotating basis among the ASEAN member countries. The congress provides a valuable platform to share views, networking, interaction, a place to learn and exchange knowledge and information and foster comradeship and fellowship. Between congresses, there is a pre-congress meeting to prepare for the congress. The AVA website is www.aseanvaluers.com

On the 3rd and 4th August, ISM and PEPS are jointly organising the 21st National Real Estate Convention at Istana Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. The Theme: Opportunities in the New Decade. For details of the programme please see the full brochure elsewhere in this website.

We also welcome our first overseas Chapter, the UK Chapter and for some information on this see the "ISM News & Events" in our website. See also under "Institution Information - ISM Branches - UK Chapter" and we are inserting here a paper entitled "The Relevance of ISM's Global Presence" by Sr. Faisal Ahmad Zaidin who is the present Chairman of the UK Chapter.

I have been invited to attend the annual dinner of the Johor branch on 30 July 2010 and hope to see as many ISM members in Johor as possible.

Comments from followers of this blog are welcome on any matter.

Update 3

Dear Members,

This morning I attended, together with immediate Past President Associate Professor Sr Dr Hjh Wan Maimun Wan Abdullah, the 2011 Budget Dialogue, chaired by the Prime Minister YAB Dato' Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Razak. It was a well attended session, at the Ministry of Finance, and there were 455 participants, from 175 organisations. The session which started at 9 am ended at 12 noon, was divided into three major parts, the Macro Issues, the Sectorial issues and the Social Issues. There were selected speakers for each part and at the end of each part a brief question and answer session ensued.

Prior to going for the Dialogue, ISM did submit a memorandum to the Ministry and did raise a number of issues obtained from some discussions with our various Divisions and Council members. However with more inputs from Divisions, Branches, Council members and members, our submission next year could be made even more comprehensive and focused. At the coming Council meeting we hope to set up a special committee that will be tasked with starting on the next submission, early, and once that committee is set up, it is hoped that members will support by contributing views and opinions.

The coming budget which is the first Budget post the release of the New Economic Model and the 10th Malaysia Plan, will be tabled in Parliament on 15 October.


Elvin.

Update 2

Dear Members,

On 27 June 2010, Sunday morning, I attended the launching of “1BINA.MY – The Official Portal of Malaysia’s Construction Industry” and signed the Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) with CIDB. 1Bina.my is a global initiative by CIDB Malaysia, for a permanent construction industry portal, built specially for the conduct of cross-border business electronically. The interactive support includes business tools; knowledge sharing; links to aids and projects; industry directory and community. The two days Content Enrichment Workshop (26-27 June 2010) was also attended by the ISM Secretariat (IT Officer) who will in charged of ISM 's ongoing updates.

This morning, 2 July 2010, we had a meeting to finalise the Memorandum to Ministry of Finance for the Budget Consultancy 2011. ISM will attending the Budget Consultancy 2011 meeting that will be chaired by our Prime Minister on 6 July 2010.

Earlier, I also attended an opening ceremony of ARCHIDEX 2010 and PAM 2010 Convention at KLCC Convention Centre and was pleasantly surprised, to discover that one of our Fellow (QS Division), Sr Low Khian Seng is the co-author of the recently published book entitled “THE PAM 2006 CONTRACT HANDBOOK”. Congratulations.

Okay, I have a flight to catch. I am going to visit my two month old grandson in JB. (",)

Oooppss...almost forgot! Datin Faridah who is organising chair, wants me to remind the industry to watch out for the 21st National Real Estate Convention (NREC) event which will be on 3-4 August 2010 at Hotel Istana, KL. @NREC, 1st in Real Estate, 2nd to None. CHECKMATE!

I'll see you there. Till then.

Update 1

ISM successfully held the 12th International Surveyors Congress over two days, namely on the 17th and 18th of June and we had 548 registered participants on Day One and 616 on Day Two. On both days there was an exhibition running concurrently with 25 booths. For the 49th AGM held on the morning of 19 June 2010 there were 315 members (including proxies) who attended plus 47 graduates and students (who can attend but cannot vote). For the Dinner on the night of 19 June 2010, and graced by the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, we had 85 tables.

For those who didn't get to attend the Congress, soft copies of the seminar papers are available for purchase from ISM at the cost of RM50 and it will then be emailed to you. For any enquiries please call Ms. Enny Zarina at 03-7955 1773 or mobile number 013-601 4150.

During the AGM, we amended Bylaw 3 (d) to two members instead of one. This relates to the composition of the Examination Board and the Education and Accreditation Board.

We also added a new Bylaw, 24A. This allows for the setting up of ISM Chapters outside Malaysia. In our proposal, 1(f) we said that "The Chapter, shall be registered with the Registrar of Societies in the jurisdiction it is situated "Members felt that the words "or equivalent" should be added after the word "Societies" and this was agreed to. The issue of funding was also raised but it was felt that this can be left to the Council to decide from time to time.

Bylaw 26 (4) was amended to include the for Vice-Presidents to the Management Committee. All Principal Officers shall be Malaysian citizens.

The Special Levy, that will be collected to fund the 50 year celebrations was approved. Fellows and members will pay RM150 per member and Graduate Members RM75 per member. The names of all the members contributing would be listed in the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Book and they would be entitled to a copy each.

An important issue debated upon was the liberalisation of services and generally members want to get an ISM consensus on the equity participation we are comfortable with notwithstanding the Government's current thinking that there ought to be full liberalisation by 2012.

Please come forward with your views.

The speeches made by the Ministers, the President , the Organising Committee and my acceptance speech at the Dinner are listed in the ISM website - www.ism.org.my.

Your comments are welcome.
Please also give us ideas for our 50th Year Celebrations in 2011.

The President - Session 2010-2011

Sr Elvin Fernandez