The close association with Burchill Partners Pty Limited, engineers and planners (Gold Coast/Johor Malaysia/Japan), resulted in Ken Newton making his first trip to Johor, the southern growth state of mainland Malaysia in 1995.

He was commissioned to work with an international planning team of which Burchill Partners were the key players, in a state project to breath new life into the old city of Johor Bahru, just across the causeway from Singapore.

 
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The outcome was many, many trips, five versions of a documentary and a great deal of assistance for presentations to the government, departmental heads, the Johor Bahru Council and private organisations. Newton was also commissioned to produce the public document for use during the statutory one month public consultation period. It was written in English and Malaysia Bahasa.

The mutual client was the Institute Sultan Iskandar, a research and development organisation comprising practical academics from the biggest technical university campus in Malaysia, the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, in Johor and Kuala Lumpur

The director of ISI, Professor Dr Azman Awang was, and still is, a driving force in significant urban and regional rejuvenation, economic developments and housing projects in Malaysia and other neighbouring countries.

  
Professor Azman Awang, head of the Institute Sultan Iskandar, with the Chief Minister of Johor during a Singapore ceremony attended by Ken Newton. At right is a piece of the superb old archicture of Johor.

 
At left, Ken Newton with Professor Azman Awang, director of ISI and at right, a scene for an ISI documentary called "The New Thinkers", being directed by Paul Noonan of All In One Media (kneeling) and behind the camera is DOP David Endres.

ISI, while funded by the private sector, became an important provider of valuable research and planning for the State government of Johor and subsequently, the Federal government of Malaysia.
  
The Menteri Besar of Johor (left) Dato Haji Abdul Ghani Bin Othman, with the Director of ISI, Professor Dr Azman Awang, and in the right picture is Prof Azman making a presentation to an Indonesian official during a formal visit attended by Ken Newton

The relationship developed between all the parties to the degree that Ken Newton became a consultant to the Institute and produced a number of significant documentaries, some of which were prepared specially for showing to the PrimeMinister of Malaysia.

Ken Newton also produced documentaries to market the scientific research capabilities of the University to Malaysian private enterprise.

Ken Newton and his production team made many many trips over a five year period to Malaysia and Indonesia, thanks to the Burchill Partners influence.

The result was some of the finest documentaries produced by Ken Newton's company and they take pride of place today in his library.

The association with Burchill Partners continues, and despite the temporary problems caused by the economic crisis in Asia, Ken Newton is counting the days when he can get back and undertake more assignments in this part of the world.

 
(LARGE PIC: Script writer Ken Newton in discussion at an economic symposium in Singapore with the Menteri Besar of Johor, Dato Haji Abdul Ghani Bin Othman and the Director of ISI, Professor Dr Azman Awang in the background.

No page on Malaysia would be complete with a tribute to our Mr Fixit, Helmi Ishak
administration officer with the Institute Sultan Iskandar. Helmi became our logistics manager, close friend, teller of tall tales and chief problem solver for every camera assignment in Malaysia. Helmi is on the right, on location in a rubber tree furniture factory at Muar.