IIC Webinar – Regulation in Times of Pandemic and Lessons for the Future: A View from Asia

Ms Aileen Chia is currently the Deputy Chief Executive and Director-General (Telecoms and Post) of the IMDA, a statutory board in the Singapore government which regulates the infocomm, media and postal sectors, and comprises the Personal Data Protection Commission. She has served as a Board member of the Singapore Network Information Centre (a subsidiary of IMDA) since 2009 and has been its Chairman since 2020.

Ms Chia seeks to create a competitive, internationally-connected and trusted environment to enable the development of the infocomm, media and postal sectors in Singapore through the formulation and implementation of policy and regulatory frameworks, and development strategies for these sectors.

Ms Chia holds a Bachelor Degree in Economics (Honours) and a Masters of Public Policy from the National University of Singapore.

Chris Chapman was appointed President of the International Institute of Communications on 1 April 2016. He is also Chair of the IIC Nominations Committee.

Mr Chapman previously held the position of Chairman and CEO of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). He was appointed in February 2006 and was re-appointed for a 2nd five year term in October 2010 until April 2016. He was appointed an Associate Member of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in September 2007.

Mr Chapman is a seasoned executive with experience in the media, broadcasting and film, internet, telecommunications, sports rights and infrastructure development worlds.

Before joining ACMA, Mr Chapman held a number of senior management positions with the Seven Network, Stadium Australia Management, Optus and Babcock & Brown. He has also been the Chairman of Film Australia and Sports Vision Australia, and a previous member of the National Film and Sound Archives’ Advisory Council.

Mr Chapman has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and has completed the Harvard Business School AMP program.

YBrs Dr Fadhlullah Suhaimi bin Abdul Malek was appointed as the Chairman of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission on 10 June 2020, for a period of two (2) years.

Dr Fadhlullah started his medical career with the Ministry of Health, as the second Medical Officer of Health for Kinta District, Perak in 1993. He was then appointed as the Assistant Director in the Public Health Division, overseeing the establishment of the Family Medicine specialty and the transformation of the Primary Care services. In 1997, Dr Fadhlullah was seconded to Bank Negara Malaysia and was part of the web-shaper team for Telehealth and Multipurpose card during the early years of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) prior to joining Telekom Malaysia and served as the Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer.

Dr Fadhlullah was a founding member of the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum of Malaysia (CMCF) and Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX). In 2010, he was Director of National Key Economic Areas for Communications, Content & Infrastructure in the Performance and Management Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) of the Prime Minister’s Department; Agriculture and Business Services; and Government Transformation Programme for Rural Development.

In 2017, Dr Fadhlullah was appointed as a member of the Commission of Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and was also the Chief Officer of the Network Security, New Media Monitoring, Compliance and Advocacy Sector, from 1 March 2017 until 30 June 2018. He left MCMC to assume the position of Senior Lecturer for Public Health and Director of Business Development at Perdana University. He was then promoted to Deputy Chief Executive and Registrar before being appointed as Vice-Chancellor in January 2019.

A medical doctor by training, Dr Fadhlullah graduated from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in 1988. He holds a Master of Medicine in Public Health from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Arts in Health Management Planning and Policy with distinction from the University of Leeds, the United Kingdom. Dr Fadhlullah had also attended senior management training at the Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) and the University of Strathclyde. He is also an alumnus of the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK).

Bio coming soon …….

Ali Hanafiah joined MCMC back in May 2000 and has held various positions in the Commission since then. He brings with him 31 years of work experience beginning as a Research Fellow in the field of RF and microwave, to working for a Malaysian telco on mobile and fixed broadband networks.

As the Chief Operating Officer, he looks into the Regulatory and Developmental matters in the Commission covering among others Licensing and Assignment, Market Regulation, Quality Monitoring, Network Security, Enforcement, Consumer and Industry Affairs, Infrastructure, Spectrum Planning, Universal Service and Postal, Courier & E-Commerce.

Dr Peter Lovelock is Principal, Fair Tech Institute, Access Partnership. Prior to its acquisition by Access Partnership, Peter Lovelock was the Director of TRPC, along with Professor John Ure.  Peter and John established the Telecommunications Research Project (TRP) at the University of Hong Kong in 1993 and the Telecoms Infotechnology Forum (TIF) in 1996. Peter subsequently established the TRPC offices in Beijing (1999) and Singapore (2006) and expanded the academic collaborations in both locations, initially with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), and subsequently with Qinghua University and the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Between 1999 and 2004, Peter built and ran China’s leading IT research consultancy, and prior to that he was a lead policy analyst at the UN in Geneva, where he was principal author on the World Telecommunications Development Report amongst others, including many of the ITU Secretary General’s speeches from this period.

He brings more than 25 years’ experience in telecoms, technology and media to these undertakings, including regulatory assessments, implementation and execution projects, and due diligence and market entry strategic guidance projects throughout Asia.

In recent years, Dr Lovelock has provided advice to governments and companies alike regionally on digital enablement and digital transformation, including to ASEAN on its ICT Masterplan, and to APEC on the Internet and Digital Economy principles and roadmap; as well as authoring reports on global data networks and bandwidth developments, cross border data flows and the economic impacts of data localisation, digital transactions, authentication and digital identity.

In the financial services and fintech spaces, Dr Lovelock has been involved in the establishment of new payments regulatory regimes in Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Zambia, focused on facilitating fast access channels and furthering financial inclusion He has advised and authored thought leadership on blockchains, digital and crypto currencies and national payment gateways and is currently working with multilateral donor agencies on the development of regulatory financial sandboxes in several jurisdictions and national eID schemes. Dr Lovelock is advising the Central Bank of Myanmar on their QR code standardisation and adoption, and is an expert on TV White Spaces and other non-traditional connectivity options for extending access.

Dr Lovelock is an advisor to PECC on digital and internet economy developments and sits on the board of the International Institute of Communications (IIC). TRPC provides Executive Director and Secretariat support to the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) and the Asia Pacific Spectrum Innovation Group (APSIG), among others.

Between 1999 and 2004 Dr Lovelock built and ran China’s leading IT research consultancy. Prior to that, Peter worked at the ITU in Geneva.

Thomas Abell is the Chief of ADB’s Digital Technology for Development Unit, which promotes the effective use of digital technology across ADB programs to improve development impact. His team works with ADB member countries in supporting the transition to the digital economy and provides assistance across many areas, including eGovernment, tech startup ecosystems, technology policy, and industry partnerships.

Mr Abell has over 30 years of professional experience in digital technology, including technology policy and strategy, software development, and systems architecture. During his 10+ years of experience in international development, he has worked extensively across Asia, Africa and Latin America, working with governments, development organisations, NGOs and corporations.

He has authored many publications on technology innovation in development, focused mainly on education, financial inclusion and agriculture.

Mr Abell has Master’s degrees in Engineerring and Management and a Bachelors degree in Engineering from MIT.