Alice Jawan

Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Utilities, Malaysia

YBhg. Dato Ir. Alice Jawan Empaling is the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Utilities Sarawak (formerly known as Ministry of Public Utilities) and is responsible for the development/provision of water, electricity and gas. She was appointed to the post in January 2017.

Prior to this, she had served at Sibu Water Board and her last post there was as the General Manager. She is also Board of Directors in the Water Boards and utilities GLC.

Dato Ir. Alice is a professional engineer with a Civil Engineering degree from University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Tennessee, USA and an Executive Master of Business Administration from University of Ohio, Athens, Ohio, USA.

Dato Alice had served in the water industry for nearly 30 years (in September) and have experiences in the various fields including project management and Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Management.

She had presented papers on various topics of water, energy, power, and also on women leadership at various national/international conferences.

Since leading the Ministry of Utilities Sarawak, she had pioneered several changes in modernization and management of the water supply industries in Sarawak. The Ministry have initiated the development of water supply master plan that leads to the Sarawak Water Supply Master Plan and Water Grid.

Dato Alice was awarded the “Malaysia Outstanding Water Award for Women Leadership” in 2019 by the Malaysia Water Association.

Dato Alice is best described passionate Woman of Change or Catalyst of Change.