Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of Malaysia

The special envoys of the prime minister of Malaysia (Malay: Duta Khas Perdana Menteri Malaysia) are individuals, usually politicians, appointed with specific assignments to enhance the relationship between Malaysia with particular states or regions where Malaysia has considerable economic interests and cultural similarities.^[4] In contrast to that of ambassadorial appointments, Malaysian special envoys are not appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia) as head of state, but rather are direct appointees of the head of government, the prime minister of Malaysia.^[5] They are often appointed with the rank equivalent to a minister.^[6] Special envoys are often accorded a team consisting of between four and eight personnel, usually including a senior private secretary, special officer, two special assistants and some with a police escort.^[4][7][8]

Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of Malaysia
Duta Khas Perdana Menteri Malaysia
Style	Yang Berhormat (The Honourable) unless otherwise specified
Reports to	Parliament
Nominator	Prime Minister
Appointer	Yang di-Pertuan Agong
Term length	Two years^[1]^[2]
Formation	1 January 2011
First holder	Samy Vellu
Salary	RM27,227.20 per month^[3]

Although most special envoys have been appointed with ministerial rank, the salaries drawn have varied depending on portfolio. Known individuals who have served in this capacity without drawing any salary include Ong Ka Ting and Tiong King Sing during Tiong's first posting to East Asia.^[7][8] Nevertheless, Ong was listed as receiving a monthly salary of RM20,000 during his earlier terms as special envoy.^[4]

List of special envoys of the prime ministers of Malaysia

Colour key (for political coalition/parties):

Coalition	Member party	Appointee(s)
Barisan Nasional (BN)	Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA)	1
	Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)
	Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP)
	United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)
Pakatan Harapan (PH)	Democratic Action Party (DAP)
Gagasan Sejahtera (GS)	Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS)
Muafakat Nasional (MN)
Perikatan Nasional (PN)
Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS)	Progressive Democratic Party (PDP)
	Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP)

*	Appointment with ministerial rank

Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency (if any)	Political coalition		Political party		Appointment	Areas and portfolios		Took office	Left office	Time in office	Prime Minister
	Tun Samy Vellu SSM SUMW SSAP PNBS SPMP 8 March 1936 - 15 September 2022(2022-09-15) (aged 86)		Barisan Nasional (BN)		Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)	Special Envoy of Infrastructure to India and South Asia ^[9]^[10]		Republic of India	02009-10-01-031 January 2011	02009-10-01-0330 June 2018	7 years and 181 days	Najib Razak
								People's Republic of Bangladesh
								Kingdom of Bhutan
								Republic of Maldives
								Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal
								Islamic Republic of Pakistan
								Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
	Tan Sri Dato' Seri Ong Ka Ting PMN DPMS SPMP DPMP 15 November 1956 (age 67)				Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA)	Special Envoy to China ^[11]^[1]		People's Republic of China	02009-10-01-031 November 2011	02009-10-01-0331 December 2017	6 years and 61 days
	Tan Sri Dato' Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis PSM SPMP SSAP SJMK SIMP DIMP 25 May 1951 – 4 April 2015(2015-04-04) (aged 63) MP for Rompin				United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)	Special Envoy to the United States ^[12]^[13]		United States of America	02009-10-01-031 March 2012	02009-10-01-034 April 2015	3 years and 35 days
	Dato Sri Tiong King Sing PNBS SSAP PJN DPMK SSSA DSSA 3 September 1961 (age 62) MP for Bintulu				Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP)	Special Envoy to East Asia ^[14]^[15]		Japan	02009-10-01-033 January 2014	02009-10-01-0330 June 2018	4 years and 179 days
								Republic of Korea
								Republic of China
	Tan Sri Dato' Seri Khalid Abu Bakar PMN PSM SPDK SPTS SSTM SSIS SJMK SSAP DCSM DHMS DPMS DIMP 5 September 1957 (age 66)		–		–	Special Envoy of Combating Terrorism, Extremism and Human Trafficking ^[16]^[17]	–	–	02009-10-01-035 September 2017		299 days
	Tuan Tan Kok Wai 7 October 1957 (age 66) MP for Cheras		Pakatan Harapan (PH)		Democratic Action Party (DAP)	Special Envoy to China ^[18]^[19]		People's Republic of China	02009-10-01-0325 July 2018	02009-10-01-031 March 2020	1 year and 220 days	Mahathir Mohamad
	Tan Sri Dato' Seri Tuan Guru Haji Abdul Hadi Awang PSM SSMT 20 October 1947 (age 76) MP for Marang		Perikatan Nasional (PN)		Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS)	Special Envoy to the Middle East ^[20]^[21]^[22]		Kingdom of Saudi Arabia	02009-10-01-032 April 2020	24 November 2022	2 years and 237 days	Muhyiddin Yassin Ismail Sabri Yaakob
								Kingdom of Bahrain
								Arab Republic of Egypt
								Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
								State of Kuwait
								Lebanese Republic
								Sultanate of Oman
								Syrian Arab Republic
								United Arab Emirates
	Dato Sri Tiong King Sing PNBS SSAP PJN DPMK SSSA DSSA 3 September 1961 (age 62) MP for Bintulu		Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS)		Progressive Democratic Party (PDP)	Special Envoy to People's Republic of China ^[23]^[24]^[22]		People's Republic of China, Hong Kong and Macao	02009-10-01-0320 April 2020		2 years and 219 days
	Dato Sri Richard Riot Jaem PNBS SSAP PJN KMN 1 December 1951 (age 72) MP for Serian				Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP)	Special Envoy to East Asia ^[25]^[24]^[22]		Japan	02009-10-01-0316 May 2020		4 years and 15 days
								Republic of Korea
								Republic of China
	Tan Sri Dato' Sri Vigneswaran Sanasee PSM SSAP DPSM 16 December 1965 (age 56)		Barisan Nasional (BN)		Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)	Special Envoy to South Asia		Republic of India	02009-10-01-0314 November 2021		1 year and 11 days	Ismail Sabri Yaakob
								People's Republic of Bangladesh
								Kingdom of Bhutan
								Republic of Maldives
								Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal
								Islamic Republic of Pakistan
								Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Controversy

The appointment of special envoys during the Barisan Nasional (BN) tenure was met with repeated accusations of unnecessary government expenditure due to the high salaries of these appointees.^[26][27][7] Concerns were also raised regarding the overlap in responsibilities and functions with respective ambassadors already in office(s).^[28] When the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition came to power, all previously appointed special envoys had their tenures cut short.^[6] Nonetheless, the PH eventually appointed a single special envoy, albeit without ministerial rank,^[5] when Tan Kok Wai was announced as special envoy to the People's Republic of China and concurrently as chairperson of the Malaysia-China Business Council (MCBC) in August 2018.^[29] The then-Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Saifuddin Abdullah, commented that the role of the special envoy would be to "complement" that of the ambassador in specialised areas.^[30]

Following the 2020–21 Malaysian political crisis, further controversy erupted when newly appointed prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, was accused of appointing individuals as special envoys to secure his position.^[31][32]

See also

• List of ambassadors and high commissioners of Malaysia
• List of diplomatic missions of Malaysia
• Foreign relations of Malaysia

References

1. "Ong bows out of special envoy role". The Star (Malaysia). 12 January 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
2. 陈, 城周 (4 March 2020). "陈国伟：准备接"大信封"·"不主动辞对华特使"" (in Chinese). Sin Chew Daily. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
3. Anand, Ram (18 November 2015). "Why is Putrajaya paying special advisers higher than PM, asks DAP". The Edge (Malaysia). Retrieved 14 May 2020.
4. "Ministerial status opens doors for special envoys, says Nazri". The Edge (Malaysia). 27 September 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
5. Raj, Reena (14 August 2018). "Special envoy not on par with Cabinet members, says law minister". Malay Mail. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
6. Ong, Justin (2 July 2018). "Report: Putrajaya axing special envoys, advisers". Malay Mail. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
7. Liew, Chin Tong (25 November 2015). "Penasihat-penasihat kepada Perdana Menteri adalah "menteri pintu belakang" yang tidak diperlukan" (in Malay). Retrieved 15 May 2020.
8. Gomez, Jennifer (25 November 2015). "PM's advisers akin to back-door ministers with high pay, says DAP". The Edge (Malaysia). Retrieved 15 May 2020.
9. "Samy Vellu begins special envoy duties". The Star (Malaysia). Bernama. 3 January 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
10. "Samy Vellu appointed as special envoy to India". Deccan Herald. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
11. "PM Umum Pelantikan Ong Ka Ting Sebagai Duta Khas Ke China". The Star (Malaysia) (in Malay). 22 October 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
12. Gabriel, Paul (27 February 2012). "Othman Dilantik Duta Ke AS". The Star (Malaysia) (in Malay). Retrieved 15 May 2020.
13. "Jamaluddin Jarjis, the prime mover behind Malaysia-US ties". Malay Mail. Bernama. 5 April 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
14. Papau, Dukau (7 January 2014). "Sarawak DAP pours scorn on Tiong's appointment". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
15. Koya (5 January 2014). "Tiong appointed special envoy to Far East". The Star (Malaysia). Retrieved 14 May 2020.
16. "Khalid appointed Prasarana Chairman and Special Envoy". New Straits Times. 5 September 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
17. "Khalid appointed Prasarana chairman, special envoy". Free Malaysia Today. Bernama. 5 September 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
18. Ruban, A. (31 August 2018). "Report: Tan Kok Wai says Dr M appointed him special envoy to China". Malay Mail. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
19. "Tan Kok Wai confirmed as Special Envoy to China". The Star (Malaysia). 31 August 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
20. Povera, Adib (2 April 2020). "Hadi appointed special envoy to Middle East". New Straits Times. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
21. Nik Anis, Mazwin (2 April 2020). "Hadi appointed as PM's special envoy to Middle East". The Star (Malaysia). Retrieved 14 May 2020.
22. "Hadi, Tiong, Richard Riot to continue as special envoys". The Star. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
23. "PMO: Tiong King Sing appointed as PM's minister-level special envoy to China". Malay Mail. 20 April 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
24. Koya, Zakiah (20 April 2020). "PDP chief Tiong is now PM's special envoy to China". The Star (Malaysia). Retrieved 14 May 2020.
25. Sibon, Peter (13 May 2020). "Riot appointed Prime Minister's special envoy to East Asia". Dayak Daily. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
26. "Samy, several others not needed anymore". Daily Express (Malaysia). 24 August 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
27. Fernandez, Joe (14 January 2016). "Shahbudin: Special Advisors, Special Envoys should go now". Free Malaysia Today. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
28. "Special envoy's role to complement ambassador's, says Saifuddin". The Star (Malaysia). 2 September 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
29. Ibrahim, Mohd. Iskandar (31 August 2018). "Confirmed: Tan Kok Wai is special envoy to China". New Straits Times. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
30. "DAP man as special envoy to China won't disrupt ambassador Zainuddin, says minister". Free Malaysia Today. Bernama. 1 September 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
31. Abdullah, Mohsin (6 April 2020). "What's so special with the Special One?". Retrieved 15 May 2020.
32. "PAS denies Abdul Hadi's appointment as special envoy to Middle East to appease party members". Malay Mail. Bernama. 4 April 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.