23 November 2024 marked the 20th dialogue between the Association of Consulting Engineers Singapore (ACES) and ACEM. For the past 19 years, the Councils of both Associations met annually to update each other on the happenings in consulting engineering industry in Malaysia and Singapore. Each Association will take turn to host the annual dialogue, held in various locations in Malaysia and Singapore. Issues discussed ranged from recent trends and challenges faced in the consulting engineering industry to new technologies in the construction industry.
The 20th ACES-ACEM dialogue, hosted by ACEM was held in The Chateau Resort in Bukit Tinggi, Pahang.
As per past dialogues, each Association would bring up issues affecting their profession or share new developments in their industry. To kick start the discussion, both Councils would prepare briefs on the topics brought up by each other.
This year, ACES has raised the following issues for discussion:
- The recent sinkhole incidents in Malaysia;
- Salary survey report on the consulting engineering industry in Malaysia; and
- Professional mobility for foreign engineers to work in Malaysia.
Ir. Shah Izzni Talif gave a short presentation on the recent sinkhole incident including some findings from the Geological Investigation Report from the Department of Mineral and Geosciences. Ir. Amin Ramli presented a summary of the findings of the recent ACEM Salary Survey 2024, which gave an overview of the current salaries paid to engineers across Malaysia. ACES is especially interested in this presentation and intends to carry out a similar survey amongst their members. For the topic on “Professional mobility for foreign engineers to work in Malaysia”, Ir. Sundraraj briefed on the route to register as a Registered Foreign Professional Engineer (RFPE) in Malaysia.
On the other hand, ACEM sought updates from ACES on the following trends in Singapore:
- Application of AI in the consultancy industry;
- Design for Safety practices in Singapore; and
- consultancy pricing structures in Singapore.
Er. Mak Swee Chiang, Arup Singapore Pte Ltd gave an overview of application of AI in some of his firm’s projects. Er. Gwee Siong Mong, Ronnie & Koh Consultants Pte Ltd presented an update on Design for Safety Practices in Singapore. His brief covered DfS implementation, DfS tools, Design Risk Evaluation and DfS register.
ACEM highlighted the increasingly low professional fees in Malaysia and ACES shared the same sentiments on the subject. It was interesting for ACEM to note that there is a Fee Structure Taskforce set up by the Singapore Government and co-chaired by the Minister of National Development & Finance (Singapore). Er. Tay Hin Guan, AECOM Singapore Pte Ltd shared the Taskforce’s work and proposal to address unsustainable fees.
The dialogue ended on a positive note with both Associations affirming the continuity of the bilateral meet in 2025 and beyond.
