KUALA LUMPUR – Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has contributed much in preserving the ocean and marine ecosystem including by putting an emplacement of the mastery of Science, Technology and Engineering.
UTM through its Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) has always committed to carrying out the mission of maintaining the cleanliness as well as the ecosystem of marine life.
The MJIIT Dean, Prof. Ts. Dr Ali Selamat had stated that UTM needs to promote the marine ecosystem as the agenda was highlighted in the United Nation (UN) policy of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
Prof. Ali was saying this at the Special Launch of the World Ocean Day 2021 webinar session organized by MJIIT UTM Kuala Lumpur on 8 June 2021. The online forum was being participated by several environmental activists, academicians and also professionals.
According to Prof Ali, several initiatives were taken by UTM through MJIIT in supporting the sustainability programme.
“We organised the study of disaster management through the establishment of The Disaster Preparedness & Prevention Centre (DPPC).
“The DPPC is a research centre established at UTM with the focus of conducting multi-disciplinary research and training on disaster management and public safety in both national and ASEAN regions,” said Prof. Ali.
MJIIT also has a research centre with respect to the processing of organic waste into reusable materials. Malaysia-Japan Advanced Research Centre (MJARC) is a new and vibrant research entity located at Pagoh, Johor.
“At MJARC, we are undertaking pioneering research in waste-management and waste-processing technologies besides developing new technologies to transform waste materials into high-value products and energy. The waste is treated using a subcritical water reactor system at our facility. Unlike conventional incinerators that use fuel to burn the waste, our subcritical water reactor system is a green technology that uses water at low temperature and pressure to treat the waste without any carbon emission or dioxins,” said Prof Ali.
MJIIT had celebrated UNESCO’s World Oceans Day 2021 with a special online sharing session by ten panellists from ocean-related industries and NGOs as well as with a special appearance by Fauziah Latiff, a celebrity and also a marine conservationist.
A Special Show was also jointly organised by UTM’s Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Centre (OTEC) and the Institute of Ocean Energy, Saga University Japan (IOES). The show was held for three hours with ten panellists sharing useful information in each round. The host asked question to each panellist in each round, up to three rounds altogether.
Hosted by Dr. Rahayu Tasnim, the invited panellists include the Vice-President of Akademi Sains Malaysia (ASM) and also a Project Director of Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) of Ocean Thermal Energy Centre (OTEC) of UTM, Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Abu Bakar Jaafar, the Dean of MJIIT, Prof. Ts. Dr. Ali Selamat, and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Postgraduate), UCSI Kuala Lumpur, Emeritus Prof. Dr. Phang Siew Moi.
Also joining the session as panellists were Prof. Dr. Shinichiro Kakuma from Institute of Ocean Energy (IOES), Saga University, Japan and his counterparts, Prof. Dr. Shin Hirayama from IOES Division of Utilization of Deep Ocean Water.
The non-academicians panellists were Head of Strategy, SOLS Energy Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, Mr. Hakim Albasrawy, Senior Programme Manager of Reef Check Malaysia, Mr. Alvin Chelliah, Business Development Manager, Evo Agro Solutions from Sabah, Mr. Datu Mohd Rafli Datu S Bahrun and President of Yayasan Coral Malaysia, Mdm. Jamhariah Jaafar.
The main topic of discussion encircled around the ocean thermal energy, seaweed and coral industries in Japan and Malaysia. The discussion was in line with the efforts made by UTM OTEC and IOES in promoting the commercialisation of Malaysia’s first OTEC ecosystem.
