Gloria receives the instrument of appointment as the Malaysian High Commissioner to Nigeria from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Muhammad V, at Istana Negara. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Gloria Corina Peter Tiwet, director of the Sarawak Regional Office in the Foreign Ministry, has created history by becoming the first Sarawak-born woman of Dayak ethnicity to be appointed as a Malaysian envoy.
Gloria, who will be the new Malaysian High Commissioner to Nigeria, is one of the five people who received their instruments of appointment as Malaysian envoys from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Muhammad V, at Istana Negara yesterday.
The others are Mohamad Nizan Mohamad, who will serve in South Africa; Chitra Devi V. Ramiah (Poland); Mohd Haniff Abd Rahman (Egypt) and Zahairi Baharim (Myanmar).
Gloria, among others, was the director of the Asean Main Logistics Secretariat of the Foreign Ministry from 2015 to 2016 and had also served in various capacities in Sweden, Argentina and Chile.
Mohamad Nizan, prior to his appointment as the Malaysian high commissioner to South Africa, was the undersecretary of the Africa Division in the Foreign Ministry.
He had also served as the Malaysian ambassador to North Korea from 2015 to 2017 and had served in various capacities in Thailand, Zimbabwe, Canada and Laos.
Chitra Devi, who will be the Malaysian ambassador to Poland, was the Malaysian ambassador to Timor-Leste since 2016. She had also served as the consul general of Malaysia to Chennai and had served at the Embassy of Malaysia in Hungary.
Mohd Haniff, prior to his current appointment, was the Malaysian ambassador to Myanmar since 2014.
He had also served as the Malaysian consul general to Vancouver, Canada, from 2011 to 2014 and had served in Kosovo, Japan and Fiji.
Zahairi, the new Malaysian ambassador to Myanmar, was the undersecretary of the Multilateral Economic and Environment Division of the Foreign Ministry since 2016, and had also served in South Africa, Qatar, Kuwait and Laos.
Meanwhile, Sultan Muhammad V received the credentials of 10 new foreign envoys to Malaysia.
They are Venetia Sebudandi of Rwanda, Valery Kolesnik (Belarus), Dr Toh Kyung Hwan (South Korea), Akua Sekyiwa Ahenkora (Ghana), George Bitar Ghanem (Lebanon).
Andrew Goledzinowski (Australia), Dr Merve Kavakci (Turkey), Bai Tian (China), Muhammed Nafees Zakaria (Pakistan) and Jesper Vahr (Denmark). — Bernama