“Good Governance & Integrity in the Digital Industrial Revolution Era”

In the efforts to enhance knowledge and boost the effectiveness of good governance and integrity in the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0), the Faculty of Industry Management’s (FIM) Governance & Integrity Centre (FGIC) at Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) recently collaborated with the State of Pahang Foundation (YP) to organize the FGIC 2019 annual conference at the Main Hall of YP Complex in Tanjung Lumpur, Kuantan.
Running for two days, from August 19 to 20, 2019, the FGIC 2019 annual conference also received the support of related federal government agency, Integrity Institute of Malaysia (IIM). 
Themed “Good Governance & Integrity in the Digital Industrial Revolution Era”, this second FGIC annual conference was held to discuss the pivotal role that good governance and integrity play in the digital era, as well as the necessary measures to undertake to overcome ensuing challenges in the said period.
The FGIC second annual conference saw local and international academicians, government agencies and industry sectors coming together – namely member countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam; representatives from other Asian countries, like South Korea and Pakistan; as well as from the Middle East (also referred to as West Asia), like Oman and United Arab Emirates; and two member countries from the European Union, United Kingdom and Hungary – to table 82 working papers on the themed subject matters.
Present to officiate the two-day FGIC annual conference on behalf of the State Chief Minister, Dato’ Sri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, was Chairman of the Pahang State Committee on Basic Infrastructure, Public Delivery System & Innovation, Dato’ Sri Norolazali Sulaiman.
Accompanying Dato’ Sri Norolazali at the launch on the first day of the conference were the university’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dato’ Sri Ibrahim Ahmad; UMP Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ir. Dr  Wan Azhar Wan Yusoff; YP Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dato’ Mahmud Mohd Nawawi; and IIM Acting CEO, Nor’afiza Saim.
In his officiating address, Dato’ Sri Norolazali congratulated FGIC, saying the latter’s annual conference offers the right platform for participants to share their experience and expertise in the fields of governance and integrity in the face of current digital revolution.
“Even the theme for this year’s annual conference is perfectly selected and timely. It calls for organizations to take stock and rethink their strategies, and come up with better solutions to improve productivity, while simultaneously, maintaining quality and customer satisfaction on the services delivered via digital technology,” he emphasized.
On that note, the Chairman said the State Committee takes pride in the implementation of “MyGovernment” portal – an online system which supports the utilization of one networking platform to link all the government’s electronic applications with its various agencies’ internal applications via the Intranet and the Internet. 
Meanwhile, UMP Vice-Chancellor expressed his gratitude to the State Foundation, and hoped that future UMP-YP collaborations will continue to prove fruitful in the fields of academic and human capital development within Pahang.
“The collaboration with the Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC) has given the university an avenue to explore opportunities of conducting programmes on raising awareness of good governance and integrity, through various initiatives,” said Professor Ir Dr Wan Azhar.
During the official launch of FGIC 2019 annual conference, the Vice-Chancellor handed over a UMP-YP collaborative research report entitled “FGIC Corruption Barometer: A Case of East Coast Region” to Dato’ Sri Norolazali, who represented Pahang Chief Minister. 
“The objective of the research was to assess the corruption perception within the states in the East Coast of the peninsular, namely Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan. We hope the research report will help the state governments direct their focus on areas of how to raise awareness and curb corruption within the three states,” Professor Ir. Dr. Wan Azhar highlighted. 
Throughout the two-day FGIC second annual conference, participants were opportune to attend several forums, including:  
1)    “Challenges and Impacts of Governance and Integrity in facing Digital Industrial Revolution”.
- Moderated by UMP Registrar cum Chief Operation Officer (COO), Professor Dr. Mohd Ridzuan Darun. 
- With a line-up of panelists from GIACC, Deputy Director Datuk Dr Anis Yusal Yusoff; Bosch Rexroth Malaysia, CEO Michel Gunawan; and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Head of Strategy & Research Raja Segaran. 
- The forum discussed issues and encounters faced by both public and private sectors in meeting the demands of Digital Industry Revolution, and their readiness to take on current challenges.  
2)    “Inculcating Good Governance and Integrity in Education towards Digital Industrial Revolution”.
- Moderated by UMP Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs & Alumni), Professor Dato’ Dr. Yuserrie Zainuddin. 
- With a line-up of panelists from UMP FIM, Lecturer Professor Dato’ Sri Ts. Dr. Daing Nasir Ibrahim; Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ts, Dr, Noor Azizi Ismail; Sunway University Business School, Lecturer Professor Dr. Susela Devi K Suppiah; and Human Government Institute Inc, CEO, Professor Dr. Arfah Salleh.
- The forum discussed how tertiary education plays a pivotal role in fulfilling the human capital required in meeting the demands of IR4.0. The panelists also shared their real-life experience in taking on current challenges.
3)    “Innovative Initiative towards Managing Governance and Integrity: The Way Forward”.
- Moderated by UMP Board Chairman, Dato’ Sri Ibrahim.
- With a line-up of panelists from IIM, Acting CEO Nor’afiza, who is also the Director of Audit Governance Sector in the country’s Department of Audit; and Asia-Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (APU), Associate Professor Dr. Husin Jazri, who also acts as the Director of Information Safety & Security.