Agong presents letters of credence to 10 new Malaysian heads of mission

KUALA LUMPUR: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V presented letters of credence to 10 new Malaysian heads of mission, including Syed Md Hasrin Tengku Hussin @ Syed Hussin who is being posted to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), at Istana Negara here today.

Besides Syed Md Hasrin, the others are Zainal Abidin Bakar (Spain), Datuk Rustam Yahaya (Iran), Cheong Loon Lai (Hungary), Datuk Hidayat Abdul Hamid (India) and Anizan @ Siti Hajjar Adnin (Ireland).

The rest are Mohd Aini Atan (Laos), Syed Mohamad Bakri Syed Abdul Rahman (Kazakhstan), Datuk Mohd Khalid Abbasi Abdul Razak (Argentina) and Agus Salim Yusof (Bahrain).
The ceremony was attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

Prior to the new UAE appointment, Syed Md Hasrin was the Undersecretary of Southeast Asia Division, since 2014, and had served in various capacities in Jakarta, Dubai and New York.

Malaysia's new man in Spain, Zainal Abidin was the Undersecretary of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Regional Cooperation Division since 2013.

The former ambassador to Czech Republic had also served in various positions in Brussels, Hanoi and Tokyo.

Rustam was the Undersecretary of Americas Division, since 2016, prior to his appointment as ambassador to Iran. The former ambassador to Oman had also served in London, Yangon and Kuwait.
Cheong was the Malaysian high commissioner to Ghana, from 2014, prior to his appointment as the new envoy to Hungary. He had served in various capacities in Hong Kong, Moscow and Washington DC.

Hidayat was the envoy to Kazakhstan, from 2014, prior to his appointment as the Malaysian high commissioner to India. He had served in Malaysian missions in Jeddah, Bandar Seri Begawan, Buenos Aires and Colombo.

Anizan was Malaysia's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, since 2014, prior to her appointment as the ambassador to Republic of Ireland. She had also served in Geneva.

Mohd Aini was the Foreign Ministry's deputy chief of protocol from 2012 prior to his new job as Malaysia's ambassador to Laos. He had previously served in Songkhla and Damascus.
Syed Mohamad Bakri was the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations director, since 2014, prior to his appointment as ambassador to Kazakhstan.

He had served in various positions at Malaysian missions in New York, Jeddah, Bangkok, Rome and Harare.

Prior to his appointment as Malaysia's new man in Argentina, Mohd Khalid Abbasi was the Undersecretary of West Asia Division, from 2015. He was previously stationed in Jeddah, Karachi and Seoul.

Agus Salim was the minister counsellor at the high commission in Pretoria, South Africa, since 2016, prior to his new posting as the envoy to Bahrain.

He had served in Bandar Seri Begawan, Almaty and Kuwait as well as staff of the International Monitoring Team in Mindanao.

Sultan Muhammad V also received letters of appointment from new foreign envoys, including Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir of the United States.

The rest were Servio Saul Samudio Bethancourt (Panama), Rodolfo Solano Quiros (Costa Rica), Maria Gustava (Mozambique), Mlondi Solomon Dlamini (Swaziland), Ahamed Jamaldeen Mohamed Muzammil (Sri Lanka) and Khalid Ghanim Mohammad Alghaith (UAE). — Bernama