NOW CONFERENCE – SEASON 1
1 JULY 2011 – 2 JULY 2011

The conference, previously known as DATUM:KL, remains the principal anchor event for the Festival, but shall from this year onwards be re-conceptualised as the NOW CONFERENCE. NOW implies an immediacy, a moment in the present to define new positions and potentials, an architectural status update! At a time when architecture seeks new directions and new beginnings, the debut conference will seek to examine and describe key trajectories of thinking and practice, and to underline the essential transformative aspects of architecture as a critical instrumentality to engage a continually changing world.

NOW CONFERENCE / SEASON 1 will feature a series of lectures by a selection of both established and emergent architects and designers with divergent range of approaches and interests from the region and internationally. In addition to introducing a new set of exceptional talent to the Datum community, this year we welcome back some of our original speakers who over the years has also risen in stature and profile alongside Datum. The new conference will also have a refreshed and updated format but will leave intact the things that have worked well.























SPEAKERS (in alphabetical order)
YB SENATOR DATO SRI’ IDRIS JALA PUTRAJAYA
ALFREDO BRILLEMBOURG CARACAS
PITUPONG CHAOWAKUL BANGKOK
FLORIAN IDENBURG & JING LIU NEW YORK/BEIJING
ZHANG LI BEIJING
LAURENCE LOH PENANG
JÜRGEN MAYER BERLIN
HIROSHI NAKAMURA TOKYO
OLE SCHEEREN HONG KONG/BEIJING
MARC SIMMONS NEW YORK
CAMERON SINCLAIR LONDON
ALAN TAY & SEETOH KUM LOON SINGAPORE


YB SENATOR DATO SRI’ IDRIS JALA PUTRAJAYA
Minister in Prime Minister’s Office &
CEO of PEMANDU www.pemandu.gov.my
LECTURE TITLE: GREATER KL – DRIVING THE ETP

YB Senator Dato’ Sri Idris Jala was appointed Minister in Prime Minister’s Office and Chief Executive Officer of Performance Management & Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) on 1 September 2009. PEMANDU is a unit tasked with transforming the social and economic performance of Malaysia. 

To this effect, Idris has led the development of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) targeting six National Key Result Areas (NKRAs): reducing crime, fighting corruption, improving student outcomes, raising living standards of low-income households, improving rural basic infrastructure and improving urban public transport. The GTP aims to transform Malaysia into an advanced, united, safe and just society with a high quality of life. 

He has also enlisted the private and public sectors, non-government organisations and civil society, in co-creating the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) that sets the roadmap for Malaysia to become a high-income nation by year 2020. Focused on 12 National Key Economic Areas – Agriculture, Business Services, Communications Content & Infrastructure, Education, Electrical & Electronics, Financial Services, Healthcare, Oil, Gas & Energy, Palm Oil, Tourism, Wholesale & Retail, and Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley – the ETP aims to raise Malaysia’s Gross National Income (GNI) to US$523 billion or per capita GNI to US$15,000 in 2020. The ETP was officially launched by the Prime Minister of Malaysia on 25 October 2010 and kicked off with 131 Entry Point Projects and 60 Business Opportunities. 

Previously, Idris was appointed Managing Director and CEO of Malaysia Airlines in December 2005, in the aftermath of the company’s biggest financial loss in its corporate history. In February 2006, he announced the airline’s Business Turnaround Plan (BTP 1). From a nine-month loss of USD400 million in 2005, Idris succeeded in turning around the company in less than 2 years, with the airline achieving a record profit of USD260 million in 2007. 

Building upon its successful BTP 1, Idris announced Malaysia Airlines’ five-year Business Transformation Plan (BTP 2) in January 2008. The BTP 2 features bold profit targets of up to USD630-USD950 million per annum by 2012. Under BTP 2, Malaysia Airlines aspires to achieve its profit targets by transforming into the World’s Five-Star Value Carrier, while offering Five-Star products and services at affordable prices. Malaysia Airlines posted 10 consecutive quarterly profits during his tenure as the CEO between 2006 and 2008. 

Prior to joining Malaysia Airlines, Idris spent 23 years at Shell. Between 2002 and 2005, Idris was the Managing Director, Shell MDS (Malaysia) and Vice President, Shell Malaysia Gas & Power (Malaysia). Idris successfully led the business turnaround of Shell MDS, the first Gas-to-Liquids commercial plant in the world and also the sole supplier of clean diesel fuel for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. 

Between 2000 and 2002, Idris held the position of Vice President, Retail Marketing, Shell International, based out of London. He was also Vice President, Business Development Consultancy where he led a team of top notch internal consultants on radical business improvement projects, and revamped the Shell global retail business model in order to achieve profitable growth.  Between 1998 and 2000, Idris was the Managing Director of Shell Sri Lanka, where he helped to shape the turnaround of Shell’s LPG business in Sri Lanka. 

Idris holds a Bachelor's degree from Universiti Sains Malaysia and a Masters degree from Warwick University, United Kingdom.