Nazri Aziz appointed Malaysia's ambassador to US

SHAH ALAM - Former Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has been appointed as Malaysia’s ambassador to the United States, Wisma Putra announced.

The Foreign Ministry said the King had presented Nazri and nine other heads of diplomatic missions their letters of credence during a ceremony at Istana Negara today

Speculation has been rife since last year that the Nazri, who is former Tourism and Culture Minister, would be appointed as Malaysia’s ambassador to either Switzerland or the US.

He had previously refused to be ambassador to Switzerland as he needed to resign as MP first.

As he did not defend his Padang Rengas seat in the 15th General Election, it has opened the door for him to be sent overseas.

Back in June, Nazri told Sinar Daily that he was ready to continue serving the nation if he was still needed even after announcing his retirement from politics.

He was quoted saying that he was also “open to being appointed as an ambassador” as an option to serve the nation aside being a parliamentarian. He had also said he was open to retiring in Europe if neither took place.

Meanwhile, Syed Hasrin Tengku Hussin was appointed ambassador to Indonesia. He was previously the Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations in New York and prior to that was ambassador to United Arab Emirates (2017-2019).

Datuk Abdul Malik Melvin Castelino Anthony and Hafizah Abdullah were the new envoys to the Philippines and Sweden respectively. Abdul Malik was previously the Malaysian ambassador to Italy since 2018.

Hendy Assan was appointed the ambassador to the Holy See, Gloria Corina Peter Tiwet the envoy to Brazil and Ruzaimi Mohamad the high commissioner to Kenya.

Suzilah Sidek was appointed ambassador to the Czech Republic, while Amarjit Sarjit Singh was made ambassador to Timor-Leste and ‘Alauddin Nor will serve as the envoy to Kuwait.