PUTRAJAYA, April 18 — More than 20 vacant posts for heads of missions and consuls general at Malaysian missions abroad will be filled in the near future, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah.

He said among the countries involved were Saudi Arabia, the United States, Indonesia, Japan and Germany.

"The list has been finalised and is going through a screening process,” he told a press conference after announcing the appointment of the Youth Committee for International Relations and Diplomacy, here, today.

Saifuddin explained that the vacancy was due to the retirement of officers and also due to the Covid-19 pandemic which made the movement of officers not feasible.

"These mission heads have two types of movement, either cross-posting from country A to country B or from country A back to Malaysia and from Malaysia to country A.

"For almost two years we have not been able to move them. I am confident that we can fill these vacancies in the near future,” he said.

According to him, the vacancy for the post of heads of mission does not impact Malaysia’s bilateral relations with the countries concerned because there were charge d’affaires appointed among experienced officers to carry out the tasks.

"For example, when Tun Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) became the prime minister for the second time, at that time there was a vacancy for an ambassador in China, but we had a temporary charge d’affaires who did the job brilliantly… at that time, Dr Mahathir went to China twice and his trip was managed by the appointed charge d’affaires,” he said.

According to him, the problem of filling the posts of heads of missions, due to the pandemic, was also experienced by other countries and this can be seen when a large number of heads of foreign missions to Malaysia submit their credentials to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah on April 25.

"I don’t remember the exact number, but it is very rare for that many (heads of missions) to be handing over their credentials at the same time. This is because many were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

For the record, Malaysia has 107 representatives overseas with some being heads of missions and the rest consuls general. — Bernama