In his 2012 budget speech, our Prime Minister announced a series of measures to spur private investment and accelerated growth, including phased liberalization of several service sectors. The budget specifies that up to 100% foreign equity will be allowed in 17 services subsectors, which include architectural services, medical and dental specialist services, apart from engineering and legal services – amongst the ones that clearly involve professional services.
This measure will purportedly push the local service providers, which in due course will pave the way for Malaysian service providers venturing overseas and widening their horizons. On the other hand, it will encourage foreign players in those sectors to come to Malaysia, bringing in foreign investment into our country.
While we should support liberalization and the opening up of equity in our survey firms, the move must be confined to only professional surveyors. In other words, we should not allow non-professional surveyors to be eligible to this ownership. Doing so could lead to a deterioration of ethical and professional standards – leading to reduced standards and quality of work, which would eventually be detrimental to the consumers. Moreover, the overall development of surveyors could be jeopardised in such a situation, as they would be working in an environment that lacks emphasis on quality and expertise.
Free trade means anyone; including non-professionals can invest and own 100% equity in a firm – that’s the practice. By this, professional concerns can be sidelined in the interest of business and profits will be the deciding factor - not professional aspects of meeting quality standards. The repercussions may not be that visible in the near term but hopefully it does not take a disaster before we realize the consequences of having non-professional surveyors taking ownership in surveying practices.
With the aforementioned consideration, we had teamed up with PAM and IEM to raise our concern to the Minister of Works. This was made through a joint letter signed by me and the Presidents of PAM and IEM on 18.12.2011. In the letter we communicated our conviction that equity holding in consulting engineer, architect and quantity surveyor’s firms should be confined to the concerned professionals who are registered with their statutory or recognised professional bodies. For clarity, we emphasised our stand that 100% equity holding has to be restricted to professionals registered with the respective Malaysian Boards of Architect, Engineers and Quantity Surveyors. Nonetheless, we did include the acceptance of foreign architects, engineers and quantity surveyors whom are recognised and registered with authoritative bodies of the said profession in Malaysia or through MRAs (Mutual Recognition Agreement) between Malaysia and the country of the foreign professional.
I hope the letter would be given due consideration by the Minister and that the interests of the public – the would-be consumers in the end, and of our quantity surveyors in particular, be protected by the ensuing move of the Ministry.
why mentioned only QS?If LS can partner with anybody,do we have to change our Licensed Land Surveyor Act.?Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe reason for only mentioning quantity surveyors is because the other categories of professional surveyors are not bound by legislations within the purview of the Ministry of Works. By the way, the joint stand made by RISM, PAM and IEM was to extenuate the impending move of the said Ministry to amend laws which would allow for unlimited ownership in the form of equity holdings in the professional firms of architects, quantity surveyors and engineers.
ReplyDeleteThe Licensed Land Surveyors Act will obviously need to be reviewed if land surveyors were to be also subjected to such requirements by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, but I believe the same stand shoud apply.