Contribution in Halal Industries:
Commonly known as Fadilah, she is a tenacious woman who has changed the way Malaysians see the world of standards, certification, testing, inspection, and accreditation. Her 14 years of remarkable contribution to the Nation during her endeavors as Director General of the Department of Standards Malaysia under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, a Federal Government of Malaysia, played a critical role in positioning the country's competitiveness, capabilities, and potential on a global scale including the Nation’s Halal agenda. Most notable, she successfully developed the first global halal standard, MS 1500 entitled “Halal Food - Production, Preparation, Handling and Storage - General Guidelines” that is currently being used everywhere in the world apart from Malaysia. This has led her to be conferred as the Tokoh Maulidul Rasul by the DYMM SPB YDP Agong in 2016.
Fadilah is credited with strengthening dialogue between regulators and industries, introducing standards in previously unregulated sectors, promoting strategic collaboration, and cultivating integrity and trust for ordinary people. She is known for pushing the boundaries of innovation. Her active involvement at regional levels of ASEAN and APEC as well as at international levels of ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation), IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), IAF (International Accreditation Forum), ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation), and WTO/TBT (World Trade Organisation - Technical Barriers to Trade) has placed her to become a member in the prestigious international policy forum ie the ISO Council for the terms 2013 - 2015 and 2017 – 2019. She also sat as a member of the ISO Advisory Group to the Chair of a Policy Committee for Developing Countries.
In 2013, she was listed as one of the 26 women CEOs from the global ISO’s National Bodies to speak boldly about the role of women in standardisation (ref https://www.iso.org/news/2013/03/Ref1722.html). In 2013, she was also conferred by the Prime Minister of Malaysia as a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences (ASM) carrying the lifetime tittle FASc.
In October 2020, Fadilah published a book “Championing Standards of Excellence” (ISBN 978-967-18555-0-8), an inaugural Malaysian story of standards development (including a chapter on halal) and its impact on raising international competitiveness. It was successfully launched by ISO on 20 Oct 2020 via a zoom session. Since then, more than 700 copies have been sold to 11 countries and they are still selling.
