MITI, together with MATRADE and other agencies under MITI, are responsible for export of services. This year, we are working with Ar Adrianta Aziz, the president of PAM (Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia) on promoting the export of architectural services, and specifically we are working together to curate exhibitions at the 2027 Venice Biennale.
I have been told that Malaysia last participated a decade ago, and I hope we will successfully make it in 2027.
I just came back from visiting the Osaka World Expo with Deputy Prime Minister II Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, and I have some views that I thought are important to share with you.
We should work together to create an open competition for the 2030 World Expo which will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The arrangement for the Saudi Arabia World Expo will be very different from Japan’s. In Japan, there are a lot of requirements for local content and local workmanship whereas it is very likely that the Saudi Arabian government and society will welcome contractors and also services – including architectural services – from all over the world.
However, for 2030, I hope we will not limit ourselves to just the Malaysian Pavilion. We should seize the opportunity to work closely with the Saudi Arabian authorities for a larger engagement for the 2030 World Expo as a whole, as well as other architectural and construction projects in Saudi Arabia – the World Expo, FIFA World Cup, and other construction projects.
I would also like to share with you that over the years, since I am quite influenced by my friend Ar Dr Tan Loke Mun, the PAM Gold Medallist tonight, and many of you here, we have been trying to influence different levels of the government to carry out design competitions for our public spaces.
I have been made aware that PAM has worked with Majlis Bandaraya Seberang Perai to rejuvenate Pasar Awam Bukit Mertajam. The same has been done for different wet markets in Serdang and my former constituency Kluang. We should do more together.
The Minister of Housing and Local Government Sdr Nga Kor Ming has been stressing the importance of competition, perhaps thanks to all your influence.
Now, I would like to touch a bit about technology.
As we know, technology changes very rapidly and will have an impact on every industry.
Architectural services are not immune to this shift. There will be a lot more usage of AI, digital tools, and 3D printing in showcasing projects.
It is important for the architect community to be at the forefront in embracing technology, using technology, and democratising technology so that we can have a lot more public involvement in understanding why good designs are important to improve our cities.
I hope PAM can spearhead discussions on the rapidly changing technology and its impact on architecture.
I have also been having conversations with the architects over the last year about the potential of using more steel in our buildings.
I hope we can bring together Malaysian steel producers and architects to imagine an architectural style that has a lot more adoption of steel in its design. This will support our local steel industry which is usually seen as a strategic sector for a nation.
On green transition, I hope the architectural community can continue to be at the forefront in designing green and energy efficient buildings, just like how PAM developed the Green Building Index more than a decade ago.
When looking to the future, we need architects to continue pushing for builders, contractors, developers, and the wider society to adopt green technologies in our spaces of daily living.
As Winston Churchill famously said, we shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us. While Malaysia is a very interesting nation with a vibrant community, we have not come together to create a common future because we have many different views.
As a democracy, it is good to have different views but I think it is time for us also to come together to agree on some larger ideas about how to develop our cities and how to develop our nation.
The architectural community can lead the way in our effort to bring people back to our inner cities, reduce sprawling and create a lot of reused and retrofitted buildings within the inner city.
My friend Dr Tan Loke Mun once told us that a city transforms every 40 years. We have seen the hollowing out of Kuala Lumpur in the last 40 years. This is perhaps the time for us to bring people back to inner cities, in Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Penang, to reimagine a new future.
I hope that all of you here will see yourselves as a part of a very important force in shaping the urban form that will deal with green transition, energy efficiency, conducive living spaces, and creating better lives for Malaysians.
I also hope you see yourselves as nation-builders.
When the world is in such chaos now, we would like to see Malaysia coming together to present to the world that we can coexist despite having differences.
Differences in religion, differences in faith, differences in ethnicity, we are shaped by our diversities.
Our diversities are embodied in ourselves, in our architecture, in our urban form, in a good way.
We can showcase Malaysia’s uniqueness through architecture.
I will end my speech by once again expressing my admiration for you and the architectural community, and I hope that you are not seeing yourselves just as architects, but as people with a mission to shape our cities and our nation.
Thank you very much.