The special envoys of the prime minister of Malaysia (

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

: ''Duta Khas Perdana Menteri Malaysia'') are individuals, usually politicians, appointed with specific assignments to enhance the relationship between

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

with particular states or regions where Malaysia has considerable economic interests and cultural similarities. A contrast to that of ambassadorial appointments, Malaysian special envoys are not appointed by the ''

Yang di-Pertuan Agong The Yang di-Pertuan Agong (, Jawi: ), also known as the Supreme Head of the Federation, the Paramount Ruler or simply as the Agong, and unofficially as the King of Malaysia, is the constitutional monarch and head of state of Malaysia. The of ...

'' (King of Malaysia) as

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

, but rather direct appointees of the

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...

, the

prime minister of Malaysia The prime minister of Malaysia ( ms, Perdana Menteri Malaysia; ms, ڤردان منتري مليسيا, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset) is the head of government of Malaysia. The prime minister directs the executive branch of the fede ...

. They are often appointed with the rank equivalent to a minister. 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. 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 Ong Ka Ting (; born 15 November 1956) is a Malaysian politician. He was the former Housing and Local Government Minister from 1999 to 2008 and Acting Transport Minister from May to June 2003 in the Malaysian cabinet. Ong also served as the sev ...

and

Tiong King Sing Dato Sri Tiong King Sing ( zh, s=张庆信, t=張慶信, p=Zhāng Qìngxìn; Bàng-uâ-cê: ''Diŏng Kéng-séng''; born 3 September 1961) is a Malaysian politician who has served as Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture in the Pakatan Harap ...

during Tiong's first posting to East Asia. Nevertheless, Ong was listed as receiving a monthly salary of 20,000 during his earlier terms as special envoy.

List of special envoys of the prime ministers of Malaysia

Colour key (for political coalition/parties):

Controversy

The appointment of special envoys during the

Barisan Nasional The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 se ...

(BN) tenure was met with repeated accusations of unnecessary government expenditure due to the high salaries of these appointees. Concerns were also raised regarding the overlap in responsibilities and functions with respective ambassadors already in office(s). When the

Pakatan Harapan The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the r ...

(PH) coalition came to power, all previously appointed special envoys had their tenures cut short. Nonetheless, the PH eventually appointed a single special envoy, albeit without ministerial rank, when

Tan Kok Wai Tan Kok Wai () (born 7 October 1957) is a Malaysian politician who served as Special Envoy to the Prime Minister to China in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from August 2018 to March 2020. ...

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. The then- Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Saifuddin Abdullah Dato' Sri Saifuddin bin Abdullah ( Jawi: سيف الدين بن عبدالله; born 27 January 1961) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Indera Mahkota since May 2018. He served as Minister of Forei ...

, commented that the role of the special envoy would be to "complement" that of the ambassador in specialised areas. Following the

2020–21 Malaysian political crisis The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, further controversy erupted when newly appointed prime minister,

Muhyiddin Yassin Tan Sri Dato' Haji Mahiaddin bin Md Yasin (born 15 May 1947), commonly known as Muhyiddin bin Muhammad Yassin ( ms, محيي الدين بن محمد ياسين, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ), is a Malaysian politician who serv ...

, was accused of appointing individuals as special envoys to secure his position.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of Malaysia Malaysia diplomacy-related lists

List of special envoys of the prime ministers of Malaysia

Controversy

See also

References