[TALK - 2 CPD] Technical Talk: Professionalism and Integrity

BEM Approved
CPD/PDP Hours: 2
Ref. No.: IEM19/PG/173/T

Technical Talk:
Professionalism and Integrity
Date : 25 April 2019 (Thurs)
Time : 06:00pm – 08:00pm
Venue : IEM Penang Secretariat
Moderator : Dato’ Ir. Lim Kok Khong

Synopsis
The recent spat of hillside collapses had given a skew perception of engineers’ professionalism and integrity.
However, many of the mishaps might not due to the fault of the engineers. They might be due to circumstances outside the engineers’ control. Nevertheless, the public would still construe that the mishaps were due to the fault of engineers. Hence, the talk will focus on some of the cases which might be misconstrued by the public. They are actual cases encountered by the speaker over his 30 years of working life. It is to make awareness for practising engineers, in particular, the young ones in executing their jobs.
The talk is grouped into 4 sections:
(a) Professionalism is affected by Public Skew Perception.
(b) Professionalism is affected by Pressure to Reduce Cost.
(c) Professionalism is affected by Bribery.
(d) Thinking out of the Box.
On (a), whether we like it or not, the public skew perception exerts a subtle effect on the engineer’s professionalism. It causes him to be over or under cautious in doing his job. Either way, he may be suspected of wanting or taking a bride. To avoid that, he tries to distance himself away from the contractor. Is it the right thing to do? The issue will be further elaborated in the talk.

On (b), the engineer is often under pressured to reduce cost. It is one of the many factors affecting the engineer’s professionalism. Because in order to reduce the cost of a project, the engineer will try to pick the cheapest instead of the safest design, but will be blamed for failure of the project. An obvious example is the design of a flood mitigation project. The cost varies a lot on whether it is designed on a 25 or 100 years flood frequency. If the budget is for a design of a 25 years flood, the engineer will still be blamed for the occurrence of a 100 years old flood.
On (c), very often the engineer is being subjected to the temptation of bribery when he is executing his jobs. He can easily succumb to the temptation of bribery unless he has a strong moral principle. Obviously, without integrity his professionalism will be compromised.
Lastly on (d), for the engineer to be able to think out of the box, he has to cast off his old mindset which has been conditioned by wanting to be free of public skew perception and wanting to distance himself from the contractor.

Biodata of Speaker
Dato Ir. Tan Chong Meng
Academic Qualification: B.E. Sydney University Australia
M.E.Sc (in Construction) U.N.S.W. Australia
Working Experience: 37 years
6 years with Sydney Metropolitan Water & Sewerage Board
1 year with Ganara, Ahmad & Associates
3 years with Binnie & Partners
22 years with Penang Development Corporation (PDC)
5 years with Padova Corporation (JV Co of PDC & Batu Kawan Bhd) Project Manager for the Construction of Batu Kawan
Status: Past Chairman of IEM (Penang Branch)
Past Deputy General Manager of PDC
Past General Manager of Padova Corporation
Past President of Council of Dato’Dato’ Pulau Pinang
Currently a Member of Panel on State Appeal Board.

Programme
1800 - 1830 Registration
1830 - 1945 Professionalism and Integrity
1945 - 2000 Q & A / END