Story by Danny Ooi
Pix by Law Suun Ting
FOR more than three decades, the Conference of the Asean Federation of Engineering Organisations (CAFEO) has been the platform for Asean engineers to discuss and share experiences. Efforts were geared towards meeting the future national development
agenda of the region. “In line with this, your conference theme this year, ‘From Light to Bytes: Asean Engineering Evolution
and Future Challenges’, is indeed very apt and appropriate and reflective of the role played by our engineers in Penang,” Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told the crowd at the CAFEO 33 function on Nov 24.Penang Governor Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas graced the event.
Also present were chairman of Asean Federation of Engineering Organisation (AFEO) and Institute of Engineers Malaysia (IEM)
president Datuk Lim Chow Hock, chairman of IEM Penang branch, Dr, Mui Kai Yin and organising chairman of CAFEO33,Paul Chi Wei.
Guan Eng said Penang owes much to its engineers for helping the transformation from an agro-based trading state to one of
the most industrialised states in the country.
“More than 95% of our GDP is made up from manufacturing and services. We have been labelled the‘Silicon Valley of Malaysia’ and are indeed proud of our substantial pool of local engineers numbering over30,000. “For example, Intel runs one of their global R & D hubs in Penang with over 2,500 local engineers doing R & D,” he added.He said Penang strongly believesthat technical personnel should be allocated leading positions to drive the state’s socio-economic transformation.In its quest to transform Penang into an international and intelligent city, the state government is committed to investing in infrastructure building, education and innovation and a knowledge-based economyvar d=document;var s=d.createElement(‘script’);