PUTRAJAYA: The two senior Malaysian diplomats who served in the United Arab Emirates have not been assigned to the Public Service Department’s pool of civil servants, says its director-general Datuk Seri Mohd Shafiq Abdullah.
He also refuted claims made in certain news reports that the two were assigned there and put in “cold storage”.
“The two diplomats will be placed in Wisma Putra and not the Public Service Department.
“Claims that the two diplomats will be pooled and sent into cold storage are not true,” he told reporters here yesterday.
Asked whether the Malaysian ambassador to the UAE as well as the consul-general in Dubai had returned to Malaysia, Mohd Shafiq said, “I think Wisma Putra is in the midst of arranging this.”
On Monday, the Foreign Ministry said the two senior Malaysian diplomats in the UAE were ordered home as they had failed to coordinate administrative and logistic arrangements during the Prime Minister’s visit to the country recently.
The Foreign Ministry’s statement on the matter came following a report published by a news portal stating that two senior diplomats in the UAE were ordered home for the lack of official “guest status” for the Prime Minister’s visit there.
Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob visited Dubai from March 29 to 31.
Mohd Shafiq said the term “being assigned to a pool” has been negatively interpreted by the public, explaining that this could happen to a public officer while waiting for new placements or if they are under study leave.
He also said a meeting would be held today to discuss filling up 29 vacancies for the position of heads of Malaysian missions abroad.
“I want to know why there are delays in filling up these vacancies and how long these positions have not been filled.
“Our diplomats are assigned abroad to defend and look after Malaysia’s interests in the international arena and to ensure the continuity of our foreign policies,” he added.
He acknowledged that the pandemic might be a reason why there was a delay filling the positions.