Malaysian heads Asia-Pacific contractors federation
Malaysian entrepreneur Matthew Tee Kai Woon has been sworn in as the 44th president of the International Federation of Asian and Western Pacific Contractors’ Associations (IFAWPCA). At 42, Tee – group executive director of Bina Puri Holdings Berhad – is the youngest ever to helm the organisation.
He is also the third Malaysian to head IFAWPCA. Malaysia’s turn to chair the group will come again in two decades since succession is by rotation among the 20 member-countries.
The first Malaysian to head IFAWPCA was Tan Sri Yeoh Tiong Lay of YTL Corp, in 1983. He was at the time Malaysia’s 50th richest man. The second was the late Siah Kwee Mou, in 1998.
Bina Puri Holdings Group is a listed conglomerate with diversified business interests, among others in investment holdings, property development, highway concessionaire and hydroelectricity generation.
Its flagship construction unit has extended its business ventures overseas to Thailand, Brunei, India, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Nepal and Indonesia, where the group operates nine hydroelectric power plants.
Tee’s served two consecutive terms as president of the Master Builders Association of Malaysia, a body of 13,000 members including construction-related tradesmen’s associations and prominent contractors collective handling 80 per cent of the construction business in Malaysia.
Tee was previously on the Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia, a regulatory body, and the board of the Construction Labour Exchange Centre Berhad.
He currently serves on the latter’s advisory board and is a member of the National Science Council, nominated by the prime minister.