Dr. Kim_message
Message: Kim: AIT ALUMNUS: ALWAYS HELPING SEAGS-AGSSEA-AIT
Dr. Seung-Ryull Kim the founding president and CEO of ESCO

I am pleased indeed to congratulate the 50th anniversary symposium of the SEAGS.
Hope the symposium will have an unprecedented success.
AIT is wonderful soils producing so many plants and fruits of reminiscence of mine
SR Kim

Dr. Kim, the founding president and CEO of ESCO since 1996, is a senior member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK) and was also the past president of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (KTA).  With more than thirty eight years of engineering experience up to year of 2016.  Dr. Kim’s main expertise includes underground space development (subways, tunnels, carverns etc.) and soft ground improvement.  His outstanding performance was recognized by the Korean Government with “Industria

l Service Medal” and “Silver Tower” the Order of Industrial Service Merit.

1.    The Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS) was founded in 1967 by Dr. Za Chieh Moh as a regional society to integrate Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Taiwan and has played a major role for the development of soil mechanics and foundation engineering, engineering geology, rock mechanics, geoenvironmental engineering and geosynthetic engineering.

I would like to stress the vision of Dr. Za Chen Moh and to remember that this world was built by people who felt some discontent with the way things were and knew they could be better. Greatness always arrives for those who are never satisfied even it looks nice.  SEAGS during these 50 years was served by 15 Presidents and 5 Secretaries General that behaved as a guru that following Sanskrit is one who dispels the darkness and brings more understanding and light.

2.    The Journal Geotechnical Engineering was created in 1970, with 4 issues per year, records now in 2017, 47 Volumes prepared by 5 Editors in Chief. The Editors with a permanent and continuous effort have played an important role in this geotechnical world that always change and progress, opening new challenges as the scientific truth is not definitely achieved.

3.    The first Conference organized by SEAGS in 1967 took place in Bangkok and the 19th Conference held in Malaysia in 2016. These Conferences gave the opportunity and time to think, plan and reflect and with incremental steps the goal was achieved.  I believe that there is but one failure in life and that is the failure to try and is important to consider what fun is life without a hint of mystery? What joy is life without a little adventure?

4.    The Association of Geotechnical Societies in Southeast Asia (AGSSEA) was created at the 16th Southeast Asian Geotechnical Conference (16SEAGC) held in Kuala Lumpur in 2007. Currently, it has eight national member societies, namely the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS), Vietnam Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (VSSMGE), Hong Kong Geotechnical Society (HKGES), Geotechnical Society of Singapore (GeoSS), Thai Geotechnical Society (TGS), Chinese Taipei Geotechnical Society (CTGS), Indonesian Geotechnical Society (HATTI) and Malaysian Geotechnical Society (MGS).

The objectives of the Association are the promotion of co-operation among geotechnical societies in SE Asia; and the assistance to member societies who have limited number of members.  AGSSEA has explored new ways, supporting the Core values and Models for excellence and being a continuous source of inspiration for today and tomorrow.

The current Chairman Prof. San Shyan Lin, from Taiwan, and the Past Chairmen for their culture of great exigency and austerity deserve our praise and gratitude.

5.    I had the opportunity during my presidentialship to attend 16th Conference in Kuala Lumpur (2007) organized by Dr. Ooi Teik Aun (Chairman) and Yee Yew Weng (Secretary).  In my interaction with the people I have listened twice as I have spoken, as I strongly believe that listening intently to someone is one of the best ways I know of to honor that person and forge a deep human connection. As you live your days, so you craft your life.  Everybody brought from Kuala Lumpur lovely souvenirs due to the superb work of Dr. Ooi Teik Aun and Yee Yew Weng.

6.    Later in 2009, in 2011 and again in 2012 I had the opportunity to participate in several ISSMGE International Seminars that took place in Malaysia, Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. The challenges topics for these countries related natural hazards (earthquakes, landslides), ground improvement, tunneling and foundations were covered.

In a world that moves in the direction of the global village it is very important the universality of the knowledge and the need for a permanent renewing. It is important to communicate, to share experiences, to compare methodologies and to monitor the results. The benefits of an open dialogue between academicians, researchers, practitioners, contractors and owners are huge.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Invited Lecturers Dr. Ooi, Prof. Madhira Madhav, Prof. Dennes Bergado, Prof. Charles Ng, Dr. Lim Soktay and many others for their devotion and cooperation.  They help me to remove the blocks I count on them in so very many ways.  They support my work to advance my Mission to serve ISSMGE, to live this highest goals.

7.    This Symposium on 14-15 September 2017 at the Asian Institute of Technology Campus in Bangkok celebrating the 50th Anniversary of SEAGS is jointly organized by the Thai Geotechnical Society (TGS) and Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS). Dr. Suttisak Soralump is the current President of TGS and Dr. Noppadol Phienwej is the current President of SEAGS.  The Symposium programme integrates 39 prestigious Invited Lecturers.  Last but not least I would like to address to the Organizing Committee and to the Lecturers a word of praise and gratitude for their contributions and a message of hope that this Symposium will allow us to develop a feeling of universal responsibility and to create the ambition to serve better our Society Following the memorable words of Anatole France:

“To accomplish great things we must not only act,
But also dream, not only plan, but also believe,
And the belief in a thing makes it happen”.

2017/2/16

As a long-time associate with SEAGS and a past-President, it is a genuine pleasure to congratulate all those who are associated with SEAGS over the last 50 years. We now have four living Presidents in Chinese Taipei, compared to one in Thailand, two in Malaysia and two in Singapore. Chinese Taipei is a very strong supporter of SEAGS with other GC members as well. SEAGS is unique in uniting geotechnical professionals across borders to become a very active and coherent group under ISSMGE.

I always believe that the underlining lesson to respect the mother nature is the real source of intrinsic humbleness of our profession, that has made us acknowledge we are limited and willing to work with others.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the colleagues at SEAGS for their long-term support, especially the frequent guidance from Dr. Za-chieh Moh and the endless endeavour of Dr. Balasubramaniam, that are essential to make SEAGS sustainable.

After so many years of successful operation, SEAGS has now blended very nicely with AGSSEA. We look forward to see this new ensemble carry on the glorious heritage of SEAGS and keep us united.

Happy Birthday SEAGS!

Message from Prof. Ikuo Towhata
VP of ISSMGE

Dear SEAGS colleagues,

Hearing that SEAGS celebrates its 50-year anniversary, it is my great pleasure to send this message in order to appreciate and congratulate the effort and enthusiasm of the member people, both in the past and at present.

Everybody knows that the greatest contribution and achievement of SEAGS is its function as an incubator. Many good member societies were born from SEAGS in the past and other countries in South East Asia are also now proud of the high level of societal activities. To this marvelous achievement, the International Society owes profoundly.

At this opportunity, I would like to call upon your attention to the Philippines which is certainly a part of the Southeast Asia. Although this country is an active country with very good engineers as I experienced in the past, Philippine Geotechnical Society is not yet born. I made efforts in the past to promote a society in this country, results were not very good. However, there are ambitious young generation nowadays who are doing efforts to achieve this long-term goal. I am very happy to assist their efforts but would like SEAGS to play major roles as well. If SEAGS can send good lecturers and other supports to attract people’s more concern to international societal activities, SEAGS will be more renowned.

Another issue is the future possibility of geotechnical engineering in Southeast Asia. Our profession is one of the engineerings that are most affected by nature. Because nature changes from place to place, different regions have different approaches to achieve goals. In Southeast Asia, the problem of “thick” soft soil is significantly more difficult than that in Europe or New England where the conventional framework of soil mechanics was built. Under more severe natural conditions in Southeast Asia, there should be more advanced version of expertise. Similar points can be made also of the problem of heavy rain, flood control, volcanic slopes, earthquakes and very quick development of mega cities. I am really concerned with the growth of big cities in the entire Asia. Many governments are now very hard to develop necessary infrastructures in order to keep up with the population growth. What may be missing is the preparedness for deterioration of built structures that would occur within a few decades as, for example, USA experienced in 1970’s. Tunnel is a typical example of a vulnerable structure.

I would state that you, the SEAGS colleagues, are in the front line of future construction technology and business. You are very fortunate to be able to work on the new-generation issues. I wish you not to miss this opportunity and make substantial contributions to the welfare and happiness of the community of the entire world. I do not limit my remark to Southeast Asia.

Yours sincerely

Ikuo Towhata
SEAGS member since 1980s

]]> https://seags.ait.ac.th/50th-year-anniversary/23786/ Sun, 19 Feb 2017 03:58:27 +0000 http://seags.ait.asia/?p=23786 Message from Prof. Askar Zhussupbekov
Immediate Past Vice-President of ISSMGE for Asia
President of the Kazakhstan Geotechnical Society Chair of TC305 (ISSMGE)
«Geotechnical Infrastructure for Megacities and New Capitals»

Let me bring your attention that the Southeastern Asian Geotechnical Society has conducted the great organizational work in helping the establishments of the Asian Geotechnical Societies for ISSMGE. It is a remarkable work done by Dr. Moh (CTGS) and Prof. Bala Balasubramaniam (SEAGS).

I was fortunate to participate in several SEAGS conferences, which showed a high level of organization and holding of such events in ISSMGE. Particularly surprised a large number of participants in conferences and exhibitions, the presence of sponsors who provide financial supports to the SEAGS conference.

As the Vice-President for Asia ISSMGE (2010-2013), I was able to assist at the opening of Chinese Taipei Geotechnical Society (Taiwan, China) and the Malaysian Geotechnical Society. These societies have also been actively involved in SEAGS before entering into ISSMGE and now are continuing to be active geotechnical societies in the Asian region.

In 2010 and 2016 Taipei (Taiwan) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) respectively held the 17th and 19th Southeast Asian Geotechnical Conferences, in which I also participated with President of ISSMGE Prof. Jean-Louis Briaud (2010). Also particularly noteworthy the high activity of graduate Students,  who conducted an accurate and organized registration, technical support of plenary and breakout sessions, technical exhibitions and technical tours.

Very good cooperation happened between CTGS and KGS because of close collaboration of the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Astana, Kazakhstan) and Tamkang University (Taipei, Taiwan). In Taipei and Astana was held Kazakh-Taiwanese Geotechnical Seminar, which showed a high level of geotechnical qualification of scientists from Taiwan.

On 15ARC which was held in November 2015 in Fukuoka (Japan) by secret ballot Taipei has been chosen to host the next 16ARC in 2019. This choice is explained by the fact that Asian Geotechnical Societies recognized the high level of Chinese Taipei Geotechnical Society and their geotechnical achievements. I am sure that 16ARC in Taiwan will bring together scientists, not only in the Asian region, but also in other regions of the world (Europe, America, Australia, Africa). Of course, the success will be supported strongly by SEAGS and the allies of other Asian societies.
I wish SEAGS continues its active work in ISSMGE and hopefully in the near future, ISSMGE will welcome the new geotechnical societies such as Philippines, Cambodia, Burma from the Southeast-Asian regions.

I congratulate with the 50th Years golden celebration of SEAGS and wish  her members to further continuous achievements, new discoveries, brilliant victories and healthy life.

Sincerely yours,

Prof. Askar Zhussupbekov
Life member of the SEAGS

Message from Prof. Charles Ng
President of the Hong Kong Geotechnical Society

Imagine what would have happened to the Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS) over the last 50 years without its outstanding, visionary and devoted leaders! Where would it be without the contributions from prominent figures including Dr. Za-Chieh Moh, Professor Chin Fung Kee, Dr. Tan Swan Beng, Professors Arumugam Balasubramaniam and Yong Kwet Yew and Dr. Ooi Teik Aun? To me, the answer is obvious. As a relatively new life member of the SEAGS, I feel I owe a lot to these great and dedicated leaders.

The establishment of the SEAGS in 1967 provided a geotechnical breeding ground or incubator for five small geotechnical communities located in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand to grow, develop and exchange ideas. Moreover, the SEAGS has provided a platform for engineers and academics in these five communities to engage with each other and to reach our big global geotechnical family organisation – the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Society (ISSMGE).  Coincidentally, maybe, the five Foreign Ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – established the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on 8th August 1967 in Bangkok. The aims of the Association are to promote, among others, collaborations and economic growth and development between the countries of Southeast Asia. The synergy between the ideologies of the SEAGS and ASEAN undoubtedly aligned technical and economic prospects.

Inspired and strongly supported by Professor F. Tatsuoka (former VP for Asia between 2001 and 2005) during our exchanges on different occasions, I and six other Hong Kong engineers officially established the Hong Kong Geotechnical Society (HKGES) in 2003. This HKGES is essentially a “foreign” office of the Geotechnical Division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers to connect their members to the ISSMGE. Through the excellent breeding and “nutrients” provided by the SEAGS, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand are now all individual member societies of the ISSMGE. However, we are still strongly linked via the establishment of the Association of Geotechnical Societies in Southeast Asia (AGSSEA) in 2007. The creation of AGSSEA was led by Drs. Moh and Ooi and others in Kuala Lumpur, with Hong Kong being one of the three founding members. Currently, the Association has eight member societies including the Chinese Taipei Geotechnical Society, the Geotechnical Society of Singapore, HKGES, the Indonesian Geotechnical Society, the Malaysian Geotechnical Society, SEAGS, the Thai Geotechnical Society and the Vietnam Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. The vision of the AGSSEA ensures continuing cooperation among the eight geotechnical societies which contribute to the development and growth of geotechnical engineering in the region.

I was appointed as a board member of the ISSMGE by Professor Jean-Louis Briaud, who was the ISSMGE President from 2009 to 2013. Since my appointment, I have been fortunate enough to contribute to the ISSMGE International Seminars delivered in the Far East led by Professor Pedro Seco Pinto (the president of ISSMGE between 2005 and 2009), Dr. Ooi Teik Aun (former president of SEAGS from 2010 to 2016) and Professor Dennes Bergado (former long-serving secretary of SEAGS). The goal of these Seminars has been to promote both geotechnical engineering and friendship, as well as facilitate the exchange of ideas amongst countries in Far East Asian countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam (see Plates 1 and 2).

Plate 1: Five lecturers and participants in the Phnom Penh (from left: Prof. Pinto, Dr. Ooi, Prof. Ng, Dr. Vuthy and Prof. Bergdo)

Plate 2: Opening ceremony of the seminar in Yangon (Prof. Ng (3rd from the left), Dr. Ooi (6th from the left), Prof. Pinto (8th from the left) and Ir Z.Z. Aye (9th from the left)).

It is clear that the SEAGS has contributed significantly in the Far East in terms of education, training and research over the last 50 years.  However, key questions must be asked: what will be its future mission and role? I am sure that SEAGS should and will continue to nurture and support young geotechnical communities in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines etc., under the guidance of veterans and peer members such as Dr. Moh, Professors Yong and Balasubramaniam. Naturally, current excellent core leaders in the region, including Professors Noppadol Phienwej, Suttisak Soralump, San Shysan Lin, and Dr. Teik Aun Ooi, will continue to play vital and leading roles. Together with SEAGS, the AGSSEA will go from strength to strength. Moreover, the SEAGS will continue to contribute the economic growth and development in this ASEAN in various capacities (see Fig. 1). I believe the Far East will become a focal point for economic growth and development of the world in future.

Charles W.W. Ng
Life member of the SEAGS and the President of the Hong Kong Geotechnical Society

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Geotechnical Group
Download in PDF format

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3. Partial Photos of Staff & Students Help

Message from Dr. Phung Duc Long
President of the Vietnamese Society for Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering (VSSMGE)

On behalf of the Vietnamese Society for Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering (VSSMGE), I would like to send our warmest congratulations to the 50th anniversary symposium of the SEAGS. For the last 50 years, the SEAGS have made wonderful contributions to the development and practice of geotechnical engineering in Southeast Asia and globally. SEAGS and AGSSEA is nowadays a real family to geotechnical societies in the region.

I believe that the symposium will be a great success and wish the SEAGS fantastic story will go on.

Dr. Phung Duc Long
President of the Vietnamese Society for Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering (VSSMGE)

Chang-Yu Ou President of the Chinese Taipei Geotechnical Society

Message from Prof. Chang-Yu Ou
President of the Chinese Taipei Geotechnical Society

On behalf of Chinese Taipei Geotechnical Society, I extend our heartiest congratulations to the 50th anniversary symposium of the SEAGS. The society has always been on the top of the list for serving the members with your unselfish services. Wish the symposium successful and the SEAGS all the success for many more years to come.