Carrying on with my journey, not allowing myself to be overwhelmed by the beauty of Southeast-Asian food and the seduction of the captivating landscape of East Timor, I find myself back in my neighbouring country of Malaysia.
Malaysia's sixth Prime Minister, Datuk Najib Tun Razak,succeeded Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on April 3 2009. He is also the President of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). Some background information about him is that he was born in Kuala Lipis, Pahang, where he received his primary and secondary education in St. John's Institution, afterwhich he furthered his studies at Malvern College in England and continued to the University of Nottingham where he earned a bachelors in industrial economics in 1974. Upon returning to Malaysia, he worked briefly for the Central Bank, and carried on to be the Public Affairs Manager for Petronas.
Najib was appointed the Minister of Defence in 1991, where he served for 4 years, before assuming control of the Education ministry in 1995. During his five-year tenure, Najib restructured the Ministry, created an independent corporate structure for the public universities, and encouraged collaboration with foreign universities and institutions. This was accomplished through the 1996 Private Higher Education Institutions Act, which for the first time allowed foreign universities to establish degree-conferring schools in Malaysia, providing greater educational opportunities for Malaysians and positioning Malaysia as a regional learning hub.[26]Najib also upgraded teaching certificates to the status of diplomas, so that teachers in that category would receive a higher monthly starting salary.
He later returned to the Ministry of Defence in 2001.
During his second tenure as Minister of Defense, Dato’ Sri Najib coordinated Malaysia’s humanitarian relief efforts following the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, and provided support to Indonesia in arresting those responsible for the 2004 Bali bombings.[14] Najib also oversaw the deployment of Malaysian troops as a part of a UN peacekeeping force in 2006, when Malaysia volunteered to help maintain peace in Lebanon following the 2006 Lebanon War.
He became Deputy Prime Minister in 2004, and Minister of Finance in September 2008.
6:04 AM
Cherie Seah Xinyi
Rafflesian; Tarbetian; RSP-ian; handbells Ex-CO
ONEOHNINE-er
TWOOHNINE-er
Bearing the scholarship of RSP, I thrive
to learn, to realise, to connect. Southeast Asia is bonded, not only by ASEAN, but it's the railways which connect us.
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