| Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 10 Aug 2016 | Asia Samachar |
Mahinder Singh, a Malaysian ambassador who heads to Switzerland after a five-year stint in Venezuela, would like to see more Sikhs joining the foreign services.
“I would like to advise our younger generation, especially our younger Sikhs, to join the foreign ministry to promote the country…It would be beneficial to the community to have some presence in this ministry,” he told Asia Samachar in an interview.
Mahinder, who joined the Malaysian public service in 1981, was the nation’s ambassador to Venezuela from 2011 prior to his appointment as Ambassador of Malaysia to Switzerland.
Mahinder and six other new Heads of Mission of Malaysia received their Letters of Credence from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at the Istana Negara on 18 July 2016. Also present were Foreign Minister Anifah Aman and the ministry’s Secretary General Othman Hashim.
Mahinder was previously the Ambassador of Malaysia to Nepal from 2005 to 2007, Counsellor at the Embassy of Malaysia in Manila, the Philippines from 2003 to 2005 and Counsellor at the Embassy of Malaysia in Bonn, Germany from 1996 to 2001.
He had also served as Second Secretary at the Embassy of Malaysia in Moscow, Russia from 1990 to 1993.
Talking about his experience on the diplomat circuit, he says: “Some of my closest friends were from the Indian and Pakistani embassies, especially the Punjabi-speaking ones. We could converse in our mutual mother tongues.”
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