Malaysia appoints first ambassador to the Vatican

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Bernard Giluk Dompok was today appointed Malaysia's first ambassador to the Vatican, Wisma Putra announced.

Dompok was formerly plantation industries and commodities minister. He was also a state minister of Sabah from 1998 to 1999.

He has also served as chairperson of the Institute for Indigenous Development of Sabah, Dutch wire service dpa reported.

Malaysia and the Vatican established diplomatic ties in 2011.

Dompok was one of the seven new ambassadors who received their Letters of Appointment from Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah during a ceremony at Istana Negara today.

Also on the list of recipients is former domestic trade minister Hassan Malek ( photo ).

Hassan has been appointed as Malaysia’s ambassador to Cambodia.

He was first elected to Parliament in 2004 as the MP for Kuala Pilah, a seat he has held for three-terms.

Prior to that, Hassan was a member of the Negeri Sembilan state assembly for nine years.

According to Wisma Putra, the other five new ambassadors are:

  • Ilango Karuppannan (High Commissioner of Malaysia to Singapore);

  • Wan Zaidi bin Wan Abdullah (High Commissioner-designate of Malaysia to Sri Lanka);
  • Shahril Effendy bin Abd Ghany (Ambassador-designate of Malaysia to Oman);
  • Ayauf Bachi (Ambassador-designate of Malaysia to Ukraine); and
  • Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin (Ambassador-designate of Malaysia to Poland).


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