First and foremost, I wish to thank the ACEM Council for electing me as President for the term 2021/2022 effective 26^th June 2021. It has been more than 450 days since the first announcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) beginning on 18^th March 2020 due to the Covid19 pandemic. The situation has not improved much from last year where our members comprising of Engineering Consultancy Practices, together with other businesses, have gone through cash flow problems, staff reduction/pay adjustments, threat of closure of offices and reduction of job opportunities to stay afloat while maintaining payment of staff salaries, rental and other overhead expenses during this period. Despite the ongoing nation-wide vaccination programme which is being carried out to alleviate the threat of the Covid19 pandemic, we are concerned that it would take some time for the construction/ consultancy business to pick up again in this sluggish economy.

Likewise, ACEM has also gone through hard times last year and we have learned to adopt with the new normal of doing business by conducting meetings online, work from home (WFH), digital documentation and conducting training courses via online webinars. In fact, ACEM has successfully conducted our first fully online Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 26^th June 2016 with participation of Sabah and Sarawak members. 

ACEM Council convened our first meeting just after the AGM to strategize our action plan to enhance ACEM and its role to the members in particular, by identifying and facing three main challenges as summarized below:

• Achieving ACEM Financial Sustainability by focusing on recruitment of membership and conducting training courses/seminar online,
• Maintaining ACEM Branding and continue ACEM’s role in nation building in general, with participation of ACEM representatives in the various Government Agencies, Board of Engineers, Malaysia, CIDB and in the construction industry, among others. This also includes spreading ACEM’s outreach on the international platform and agenda, and,
• Enabling ACEM members to do business by addressing issues via engagement with the relevant Authorities regarding new policies, regulations or restrictions, which could potentially increase the cost of doing business. Previous issues such as the Scale of Fees will be followed up with BEM.

I have always believed that how good or bad the situation is at present, it will change in the future. We have to learn to cope with the worst of the situation and together let us face the future with optimism and hope that things will change for the better.

Let us ensure that ACEM is always in the forefront in maintaining the interest of our members in the Engineering Consultancy Business and Industry. YNWA.

Thank you

Ir. K. Sundraraj
ACEM President.