KUALA LUMPUR— Former cabinet minister, Datuk Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis will be officially appointed as Malaysia’s ambassador to the US early next month, filling a crucial diplomatic slot that has been empty since Datuk Rajmah Hussain retired in June last year.
The Malaysian Insider understands Jamaluddin has been cleared by the US State Department to take up the posting.
And in a measure of the Najib administration’s decision to upgrade ties with Washington, he will be accorded ministerial status.
According to sources, Jamaluddin will receive his credentials from the King on August 4.
The appointment is one of the choice overseas postings and is usually reserved for senior diplomats.
A close friend of the PM, he was passed over when Najib announced his line-up of ministers and deputy ministers on April 9.
Former ambassador to the US Tan Sri Ghazzali Sheikh Abdul Khalid was also shortlisted for the post but was passed over due to his links with disgraced US lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
It was during Ghazzali’s tenure that the Malaysian Embassy in Washington reportedly paid up to US$1.2 million (RM4.21 million) to Abramoff to secure a meeting with then US president George W Bush in 2002.
Abramoff was later convicted of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials.
Jamaluddin is a member of the Umno supreme council and has held several Cabinet positions before this, including as the minister of science, technology and innovation and also as the second finance minister.
The reason that has been put forward for his appointment as ambassador is that he has a “good network” in the US. (TMI)
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