RECENTLY a mainsteam newspaper published a news article entitled "Poor Engineer" ("Jurutera Miskin"), which claimed that graduate engineers were paid a low salary and this salary scale had been stagnant for the past 20 years.
This attracted much attention to the extent where the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) was prompted to respond with a clarification statement to the news article and the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) conducted a survey on engineers' starting salary among its members.
As a professional engineer and academician, it saddens me when I was posed the above question. Engineers are professionals with degree qualifications similar to other professional professions such as doctors, lawyers and accountants.
The engineering degrees in Malaysia are recognised by the Washington Accords and professional engineers are regulated under the Registration of Engineers Act (REA) 1967 (Act of Parliament) and registered by the Board of Engineers, Malaysia.
This means an engineer can at any time choose to switch his career to other fields and disciplines such as marketing, sales, manufacturing, literature and or social sciences.
However, the vice versa is not possible as graduates from a non-engineering degree background are prohibited by law from practising as engineers in Malaysia.
Contrary to popular belief, engineers are not trained to be only competent to perform engineering calculations.
The fundamental purpose of an engineering education is to build a knowledge base and attributes to enable the graduate to continue learning and to proceed to formative development that will develop the competencies required for independent practice.
The International Engineering Alliance (IEA) and Washington Accords has identified 12 attributes for engineering graduates which, among others, includes application of engineering knowledge to solve complex engineering problems, investigation and problem analysis using modern tools, teamwork, communication, knowledge on project management and finance, ethics and responsibility towards society, health, safety, legal, cultural, environmental and sustainability issues as well as lifelong learning.
As an engineer progresses in his career, he will realise that an engineer's role is not so much on designs and calculations, but someone who is capable to manage the overall project execution and implementation.
Engineers are expected to manage everything from planning, design (technical), time (project schedule), budget (project cost management), finance (cash flow management), human resources (staff planning), resources management (material planning), logistics planning, quality control and quality assurance (testing), tender management, contractual management, reporting and communication with stakeholders (people management), safety and health monitoring as well as environment and sustainability.
This means that engineers are trained to be "leaders". Engineers are a special breed of people trained to pay attention to details, solve complex problems, act independently yet be able to work as a team, be productive and obsessed with optimisation and efficiency.
A study by Harvard Business Review on the world's 100 top-performing CEOs showed that 34 of them in 2018 had an engineering degree as compared with only 32 who had an MBA.
But then, do you measure an engineer's worth by the starting salary or the unlimited potential for career progression? Is the engineer's salary low in Malaysia?
Based on a similar mainstream newspaper report entitled "Engineer's Salary Static" (Gaji Jurutera Statik) on Oct 23, 2019, an engineer's annual salary in the United States was US$87,951 (RM368,383), Australia AUD$116,161 (RM338,339), Japan 9,039,271 yen (RM369,237) and Singapore SG$93,337 (RM285,986).
In the era of globalisation, engineers are mobile and can practise engineering across borders globally and regionally. The IEA through International
Professional Engineers Agreement (IPEA) and the Apec agreement recognised "substantial equivalency" of standards establishing the competency of professional engineers for independent practice globally.
Regionally, Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on Engineering Services, that was signed at the 11th Asean Summit, allows engineers who possess the requisite qualifications and experience to apply to be an Asean Chartered Professional Engineer (ACPE) to practise in the Asean region.
The engineer to population ratio in developed nations such as Germany is 1:82 and France is 1:75. According to the BEM, the engineer to population ratio for Malaysia is 1:174. This means that there is still a high demand for engineers in our country as we strive towards developed nation status.
However, in the era of globalisation, if we do not recognise and retain our engineers and professional talents for the growth and development of our country with the right remuneration and incentives, other countries in the region will recognise, reward and develop them.
The writer is a Specialist at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), a professional engineer and technologist