Many people have questions about how a foreign engineer can register in Malaysia as an engineer.
The answer lies in the Registration of Engineers Act 1967 (Revised 2002), Section 10A.
My interpretation of the Section is as follows:
- Foreign engineers may only be registered as Temporary Engineers.
- A foreign engineer may only be registered if:
- he possesses the necessary qualification which is recognised for the practice of engineering as a professional engineer in the country where he normally practises; and
- he possesses the necessary expertise and his physical presence is required in Malaysia for not less than one hundred and eighty days in one calendar year or he is a resident representative of the foreign component of a joint-venture.
- The Board of Engineers may approve the registration of a Temporary Engineer for such period not exceeding one calendar year and may renew the registration as it deems fit.
- For the purpose of this section “foreign engineer” means an engineer who is not a citizen or a permanent resident of Malaysia.
So, how do you get around this if you don’t meet the requirements of the Act? Call yourself a ‘consultant’, ‘specialist’, ‘MD’, and other non-aggressive titles. You get the same pay anyway.
Wata - Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineer 
Jabba has obtained all sorts of membership, except BEM. I am also have the Fellow of Institution of Villians and Crime Bosses (F.IVCB).
However, for Jabba the Hutt, it is quite difficult to join BEM. The following deterred was met;
1. Lost my files twice;
2. Certified my transcript enough times the university probably posted my results on the web instead.
3. Photocopy enough document to cut down a decent sized tree
and, I am still not a student member of BEM. I dread the day I need to go for an exam, interviews etc.
I pity an engineer from Kazakhstan (if you seen Borat, the movie, he’s the guy sitting next to the machine gun wielding kid), trying to justify his engineering skill (e.g. building a space shuttle from recycled cardboard) to the accreditation board.
I wonder how many engineers are still not registered, will not register, and not interested in paying for annual subscription.
Need to cut short, its my turn to run IVCB matters today.