The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (Southern Branch) is one of the
largest Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) branches in terms of
membership and is amongst the earliest to be set up by IEM to cater to
members who reside outside the Klang Valley.
It was officially registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) on the
18th August 1971 with its official address at Sultan Ismail Power Station,
Lembaga Letrik Negara (LLN), Johor.
The Branch Committee in the early years largely consisted of engineers
from government departments such as the Public Works Department
(JKR), the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID), Lembaga Letrik
Negara (LLN) and a few from the private sectors consulting engineers.
In the early years, it was common for IEM branches to operate without
any fulltime secretariat staff and they had no permanent office for many
years. The “branch office” was effectively the workplace of its committee
members, usually the office of the Chairman or Honorary Secretary.
In the mid 1980’s, IEM (Southern Branch) with the support of IEM
headquarters, managed to raise funds to acquire a 3-storey
commercial shop lot as its permanent office. The office, located at 24-B,
Jalan Abiad, Taman Tebrau Jaya, 80400 Johor Bahru, has been the home
of IEM (SB) ever since.
IEM (Southern Branch) has played an important role in promoting the
engineering profession among our members and society. Our membership
as of 2019, stands strong at 5388 members, of which 15% consists of
corporate members. The remaining 85% comprises of graduate and
student members.
We have been actively organizing activities that benefit our members and
fellow engineers. These include technical talks, seminars, charitable
works, social activities and technical visits including visits to engineering
sites and facilities in Johor Bahru and Singapore.
IEM (Southern Branch) maintains a cordial relationship not only with the
Johor state government but also with other professional bodies such as
the state’s Malaysian Bar Council, the southern chapter of Malaysian
Institute of Architects (PAM), the Johor Master Builders Association
(JMBA), Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), Malaysian
Institute of Accountants (MIA), Malaysian Institute of Planners (MIP), Real
Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (REHDA), The Royal
Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM), The Institution of Engineers,
Singapore (IES) and the Asian Concrete Construction Institute (ACCI),
Singapore.
IEM (Southern Branch) representatives have also been appointed by the
state government as ex-officio members in the local councils of Majlis
Bandaraya Johor Bahru (MBJB) and Majlis Bandaraya Iskandar Putri
(MBIP). This is a testimony of recognition by the government towards the
contribution of IEM(SB), particularly in Johor Bahru.
Our Young Engineers Section (YES) has also been very active in recent
years with the involvement of the two IEM student chapters namely
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai, and Universiti Tun Hussein
Onn (UTHM), Batu Pahat. The management of both universities have been
supportive of IEM (Southern Branch) and have been promoting IEM
(Southern Branch) to the academic staffs and engineering students.
IEM (Southern Branch) with its 48 years of experience will continue to
play a pivotal role in promoting the advancement of science and
engineering, and to contribute for the betterment of the engineering
profession particularly in the state of Johor.