MIP History
MALAYSIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNERS – ITS BEGINNING
The Malaysian Institute of Planners has come a long way in a very short time. The idea was mooted by the 1971 AGM of the Royal Town Planning Institute (Malaysia Branch), the only body representing the planning profession in the country at that time. It was felt that for an independent country we should have a national planning institute and not be a branch of the Royal Town Planning Institute London.
In conformity to the decision a Protem Committee comprising of Mohd Rosli bin Buyong, Chung Weng Foo, Tan Soo Hai, Chin Wai Yeong and T. Mahesan was elected to draft the constitution for the proposed Institute. This committee met several times at 13, Jalan Yong Shook Lin, Petaling Jaya which was then the office of Tan Soo Hai.
On the 6th September 1971 at a meeting held at the conference room of the Federal Department of Town and Country Planning, Jalan Cenderasari, Kuala Lumpur, the findings of the committee was presented. The 20 members present approved the constitution and elected a Protem Executive Council to legally establish the Pertubuhan under the Akta Pertubuhan 1966. The members of the committee were:
| President | Mohd. Rosli bin Buyong |
| Vice President | Tan Soo Hai |
| Honorary Secretary | Chung Weng Foo |
| Council Members |
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Application to register the Institute was made in November 1971 and a temporary license to operate the Institute was issued by the Registrar of Society in December 1971.
The full certificate was issued on 26th July 1972. It is history after that.
Legitimizing the Profession
We owe a debt to many of our members and to others for help given in steering the Town Planners Act through various levels of the Government. The Act itself was originally initiated by MIP. A draft was prepared in 1973 and discussed at a Special General Meeting held at the conference room at the Federal Department of Town and Country Planning, Kuala Lumpur. The amended version was circulated by the then Secretary, Chung Weng Foo to all the MIP members and adopted by the MIP Council on 26th January 1974. This draft Act was then sent to the then Minister of Local Government and Housing, Tan Sri Ong Kee Hui. Twenty-one years later and after countless representation by the Council to the respective Ministers, the Town Planners Act was finally approved by Parliament in 1995.
The distinction of securing the Act is not the doing of any one individual. Every President and Council in the intervening 21 years did much work in paving the way for the event, and much also has depended on the support of the Federal Department of Town and Country Planning and the Ministry of Local Government and Housing. Dato’ (Dr.) Ishak bin Ariff, the Director General of the Department of Town and Country Planning and his successor, Dato’ Zainuddin Muhammad and Dr. Mohamad Nong from the Ministry steered the Act through the National Council of Local Government and the Ministry. Dato’ Anwar Musa a Cabinet Minister at that time and a corporate planner of the institute provided invaluable assistance to ensure a smooth progress of the Act through the Cabinet.