Yang Berbahagia Dato' Mohamed bin Said, Ketua Pengarah, Jabatan Kerajaan Tempatan, Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan.

Ambassador of Bosnia, H.E. Mustafa Mujezinovic and the Charming Lady,

Dato' - Dato', distinguished guests, friends, fellow architects, ladies and gentlemen,

A very good evening and welcome to PAM Annual Dinner.

On behalf of PAM, I would like to express how thankful we are to Yang Berbahagia Dato' Mohamed bin Said, Ketua Pengarah, Jabatan Kerajaan Tempatan for taking time off his busy schedule to grace this Dinner as our Guest-of-Honour. Thank you, Dato'.

I am deeply honoured to have been elected as the President of PAM for another term. In return for your support, I shall continue to serve the Institute and the Profession to the best of my ability.

The future holds great challenges but many opportunities as well. As your President, I will work hard along with our members to achieve what is best for our Institute and Profession. Let us shape our future together.

When I assumed the Presidency of PAM one year ago, I was committed to advance the strategies established by the previous Council and to facilitate even greater achievements for the Profession and Institute. My review for Council year 2003-2004 has been reported in both the Annual Report and the Berita Akitek. The review basically assessed what Council has achieved to deliver the three objectives that we have established. I am pleased to report that, with the many activities held throughout the Council year, my first term as the President has been both exciting and challenging and, with the support of Council, Past Presidents and members, we have achieved most of the objectives.
I would like to highlight however, some pertinent issues confronting the Profession locally and globally that need to be addressed urgently.

Locally, the Government's proposal announced by The Honourable Prime Minister on 26 June 2004 to substitute the issuance of the Certificate of Fitness for Occupation (CF) by the Local Authorities with the certification by Professional Architects and Engineers is timely and in the best interest of the Building Industry and the Public.

The whole intention of doing away with the issuance of CF by the Local Authorities is to enhance the competitiveness of Malaysia and to improve the efficiency of the development delivery system. Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia (PAM) and Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia (LAM) are in full support of the Government's proposal.

However, development is a very complex process involving many parties from both the public and private sectors. As such, the overall development delivery process should be reviewed and streamlined to ensure proper system and mechanism are put in place for self-certification to work effectively.

To this end, there must be full disclosure, transparency accountability and trust by all parties involved in the whole development delivery process.

As Professional Architects, we must rise to the occasion and demonstrate that we can deliver as a Professional in response to the Government's aspiration and public expectation. I call on our members to meet this challenge together with total commitment as a way forward in raising our professional standing in society and in the best interest of the public.

Globally, the negotiation on trade and services is an ongoing agenda of the WTO albeit the recurring disagreement at the various ministerial meetings such as the recent one in Cancun. This is the process of progressive liberalization which all WTO members have to engage in as their commitment under GATS. Architectural service is seen as an item for negotiation and PAM has been actively involved with the Government as well as international organizations such as UIA, APEC and AFAS to maximize the potential benefits of globalization.

In response to the Government's call to professional service providers to look beyond our shores and venture overseas in the light of apparent shrinking domestic market for services, the National Professional Services Export Council (NAPSEC) and Professional Services Development Corporation (PSDC) were established to promote and enhance the export of services and capacity building.

Regional bodies like ASEAN and APEC are also active in the promotion of trade and cooperation in the service sector. We cannot remain oblivious of the current trend in cross border trade and activities that have been further accelerated by the phenomenal development in East Asia that have attracted many services providers from the developed countries.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

The question we must ask ourselves is whether are we ready to compete with the best services providers of the world ? Are we ready to export our Professional Services ? Are we geared up to capitalize on the opportunities available overseas ? While I agree that the choice is really one to make, I believe the sooner we get ready to face the onslaught of globalization and liberalization, the better it will be for us ultimately.

PAM is what we are today, basically attributed to the hard work and sacrifices of past leaders and members. I would like to pay tribute to one such leader, the late Dato' Kington Loo who passed away last year and left behind a legacy of priceless contributions to the Architectural Profession and also to the environmental conservation, stood out with his selfless service, vision and dedication to the causes that he believed in.

As members of PAM, we together are responsible to protect and continue the good works of the past leaders and members. Our Institute is small, not only in size but also in terms of resources both financial and human. As such, to compete with the best services providers from the developed countries, we need to be united and develop our human resources to the fullest. This is the only way forward. We must ask ourselves, as members of PAM, have we contributed to our mission to promote the advancement of Architecture and the Architectural Profession for the betterment of society ? Every member of PAM has a role to play to develop the Architectural Profession. I urge all of you to lend us your full support and whatever time and resources you can spare, to meet collectively the challenges and opportunities confronting our Profession.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The highlight of this evening's function is PAM Architectural Awards which was started almost 20 years ago. It is conferred to give recognition to Malaysian Architects for excellence in design and to promote the advancement of quality built environment that has beneficial social, physical and cultural impacts on the country as well as to give recognition to the Builders and Owners who together enable the achievement of excellence in architecture and to promote such excellence in architecture to the public.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the distinguished members of the Master Jury for judging the PAM Architectural Awards 2004. I also would like to thank the Chairman and members of Steering & Organizing Committee and the Convenor for putting in a lot of their effort and time to ensure the success of the PAM Awards and the Dinner.

Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to record PAM's appreciation to all the "Friends of PAM" for their continuing support and sponsorship of PAM's activities. I would also like to record our appreciation to members who have generously donated books to our Resource Centre, towards making our Resource Centre the main centre for research and reference. Tonight, PAM Education Fund would also like to give the Best Graduates Awards to the various Schools of Architecture to promote academic excellence.

Last but not least, I would like to record my sincere appreciation and heartfelt gratitude to the outgoing Council members for their invaluable contributions and others who have contributed towards the strengthening of the Institute and Profession. Before I end my speech, I would like to introduce the members of the PAM Council for year 2004-2005. Council at its first meeting yesterday has appointed the Chairman and Co-chairman of various standing committees who collectively pledged to work hard to deliver the established objectives to bring PAM to a higher level. It is now my great pleasure to invite them to come on stage and be recognized:

Deputy President: Ar Dr Tan Loke Mun
Vice President: Ar Lee Chor Wah
Honorary Secretary: Ar Boon Che Wee
Honorary Treasurer: Ar Mohamad Shah Dato' Sanad

Immediate Past President : Ar Tan Pei Ing

Ordinary Council members : Ar Jerry Sum Phoon Mun
Ar Wan Sofiah Wan Ishak
Ar Chong Lee Siong
Ar Jasmeet Pal Singh Sidhu
Ar Chan Seong Aun
Ar Hamdan Abdul Jamal
Ar Mohd Zulhemlee An
Ar Abu Zarim Abu Bakar
Ar Meor Wazir Zul'aidin
Ar See Kim Piow

Chairman Northern Chapter: Ar Au Tai Yeow
Chairman Southern Chapter: Ar Hj Razin Mahmood
Chairman Sabah Chapter: Ar Lam Choi Sing
Chairman Sarawak Chapter: Ar Hubert Kueh Peng Yaw

On this note, Ladies and Gentlemen, once again, I would like to thank Yang Berbahagia Dato' Mohamed bin Said, Distinguished Guests and all of you, for your presence and support, please enjoy the evening and the fellowship of our special guests.

Thank you.