MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Message from the President

IKM – Looking Back and Moving Forward

We are coming into 2026 with high expectation. Looking back and moving forward, I would first like to review what we have done in 2025 and from there, what are coming in 2026.

For 2025, we have the following three major events:

• The first is the IKM 58th Annual General Meeting (58AGM) which was held on 22nd March 2025 with a record 223 members present. The IKM Council for 2025/2026 was elected.
• The most significant event in 2025 is the IUPAC 2025 that comprised the IUPAC 53rd General Assembly (53GA), 50th World Chemistry Congress (50WCC) and LabAsia 2025. IUPAC 2025 was held from 12th – 19th July 2025 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with a record number of 3,450 delegates from 97 It is also rated as one of the best IUPAC events.
• Malam Kimia 2025 – 54th IKM Gala Dinner and Presentation of IKM Awards was held on Saturday, 6th December 2025. A record 690 guests attended this IKM gala dinner

In addition to the above, we also have the following events and functions:

• IKM Professional Centre providing professional development programmes and continuing education to our chemists and other professionals. A record number of 52 courses were conducted in 2025.
• Kuiz Kimia Kebangsaan Malaysia (K3M) 2025 with a record number of 41,273 students from 879 schools taking part
• LMIC Examinations 2025 with a record number of 82 candidates
• IKM Refresher Course 2025 with 63 participants
• IKM Laboratory Excellent Awards 2025 with a record number of 79 laboratories taking part
• Six (6) issues of Malaysian Journal of Chemistry (MJC) were published in 2025.

There were also many other events which we organised or participated in 2025.

For 2026, we also have the following major events:

A major development in 2026 is the Accreditation of Undergraduate Chemistry Programmes in local universities. In accordance with Subsection 7(i) of the Chemists Act 1975 [Act 158], Institut Kimia Malaysia (IKM) is mandated to approve or reject the accreditation of Chemistry and Chemistry-related programmes at public and private higher education institutions in Malaysia, pursuant to the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) Act 2007 [Act 679].

In 2024, IKM came up with the Chemistry Programme Standard for Malaysian universities. This Standard is approved by the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) for accreditation of undergraduate chemistry programmes in Malaysian universities.

Subsequently, MQA approved and appointed IKM as the Accreditation Body of chemistry undergraduate programmes in Malaysian universities. This accreditation will start in the year 2026. In accordance with this, an IKM Chemistry Accreditation Board is appointed by IKM.

Other major events in 2026 include the following:

• The first major event in 2026 is the IKM 59th Annual General Meeting (59AGM) which was held on 28th March 2026 in M World Hotel, Petaling Jaya with a record 253 members present. The IKM Council for 2026/2027 was elected. There is a report on the 59AGM in this issue of Berita IKM.
• Another major event in 2026 is the 51st IUPAC World Polymer Congress (MACRO 2026) which will be held in BCCK, Kuching, Sarawak from 28 – 31st July 2026. MACRO 2026 is expected to attract up to 600 delegates from all the world. The response so far is quite encouraging.
• Another significant event is the International Congress on Pure & Applied Chemistry (ICPAC) which will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 13 – 16th October 2026. ICPAC Colombo 2026 is jointly organised with the Institute of Chemistry, Ceylon (ICC) and Asia Chem Corporation Japan.
• The annual Malam Kimia 2026 – 55th IKM Gala Dinner & Presentation of IKM Awards will be held on Saturday, 5th December 2026 in the HGH Galaxy Hall, Sentul, Kuala Lumpur.

There will also be other major events, such as Refresher Course and LMIC Examination, CPD and continuing education programmes at IKM Professional Centre, publication of MJC, etc in 2026.

All in all, we have a great and rewarding year in 2025 and we look forward to an even more successful year in 2026.

Thank you and God blessed.

Datuk ChM Dr Soon Ting Kueh
President, Institut Kimia Malaysia
Date: 1st January 2026