| By Malai Hassan
Othman
Professionals here including
qualified local architects, engineers and surveyors have agreed
there is an urgent need to regulate the engineering and
construction industry to ensure good practice in the highly
competitive industry.
They said the absence of more
effective rules and regulations to guide the industry would
expose the industry and the good names of genuine professionals
to the bad practice of what they termed as fly-by-night
professionals. They likened these 'quacks' as 'engineer sapu',
'architect sapu' and 'surveyor sapu'
The local professionals came to
this conclusion at the PUJA Forum, attended by over 200 local
engineers, architects and quantity surveyors, and spouses.
At the 'soul-searching' session
they heard compelling arguments for the introduction of
legislation and the establishment of "The Board of
Professionals and Practices" to regulate the engineering
and construction industry as the way of ensuring "quality
development" and "value for money services".
Arguments were put forward and
experience were shared among five panelists headed by Dato Haji
Abdullah the Vice President (Engineering) of PUJA.
There were strong
representation from related professional bodies of Malaysia and
Singapore. A well experienced professional practitioner from
Brunei was also present.
The moderator, Dato Malai Ali
Othman, introduced the credentials of panelists as having 100
years of "bitter and sweet" experiences collectively
and qualified from the same "University of Hard
Knocks" in the real world of engineering architecture and
Quantity Surveying.
Dr Nigel Lawry the Deputy Dean
for Economics from the UBD said there seem to be nuances in his
views that we are arriving at a turning point in the "hick
up" of the economy where "quality development"
may be sacrificed.
Within the context of the
"hick up", there must be continuous if not more
efforts for transforming, increasing and enhancing the capital
assets which include infrastructure, nationhood, social capital,
technological factors, entrepreneurship, education and policy
frameworks.
There was a common agreement
among the panelists that investing in human resources capital
will contribute to professionalism that will assure us with
"quality development".
During the Q&A session, the
floor expressed concern on the existence of what was termed as
"Engineer sapu", Architect sapu" and
"Quantity surveyor sapu" who are creating unhealthy
competitive and unprofessional practices in the country.
Many feel this will affect not
only quality and cost will be affected but public safety and
trust will be at risk.
There was also concern about
the liberalisation process under WTO where there will be greater
pressure for government and clients to choose foreign service
providers.
The panelists highlighted the
issues of promoting SMEs by encouraging the convergence of
professional principles and good business ethics in the birth of
many more professional entrepreneurs especially in the
construction industry.
The panelists called for the
formulation of a regulatory framework that would promote and
induce professionalism and the establishment of the "Board
of Professionals" in the engineering, technical and
construction industry.
Dato Haji Abdullah placed the
issue of quality development through professionalism issues into
perspective.
With the much needed humour to
wake the fully fed audience after the sumptuous dinner servings,
he said there was a need for the transformation and a paradigm
shift among professionals from being involved to the new level
of being committed.
He reminded everybody quality
means an increase in benefits through the optimal use of
resources or the "Factors of Production". "We
cannot talk about increasing capital and increasing men as a way
of increasing output professionalism means increasing output by
using technology, techniques and methodology without necessarily
increasing capital or labour.."
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