WISMA Putra said today two senior diplomats failed to co-ordinate administrative and logistics matters for Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s visit to the United Arab Emirates last month, hence their recall.

In a statement released today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the diplomats had failed to properly plan the arrival of the prime minister on March 29, which should have been based on ministry operating procedures for high-level visits abroad.

However, the ministry did not name the two diplomats involved.

“These failures include the prime minister having to wait a long time at the regular arrival hall for passport clearance arrangements by Immigration in Dubai.

“Other than that, coverage, safety controls as well as a motorcade that should have been prepared based on the SOP were also not provided,” the ministry said, comparing the PM’s visit to the UN General Assembly in New York, where diplomats follow protocols.

The statement said the two diplomats had also failed to inform the ministry about the World Government Summit, which was held at Expo 2020 Dubai.

“The ministry only found out about the summit on the morning of March 30 through other sources. If senior civil servants had been informed early on, efforts would have been made to ensure that the PM delivered a speech,” it said.

“This problem would not have occurred if the adjustments were made earlier. This is because the UAE government has provided all facilities to the prime minister as head of government until the end of the visit,” it said.

Yesterday, Free Malaysia Today reported Malaysia’s ambassador to the UAE Mohd Tarid Sufian and Consul-General in Dubai Mohd Hasril Abdul Hamid were “ordered home and put in cold storage” for not having properly received Ismail during his official visit.

FMT reported that Tarid and Hasril were the only senior officers present at the airport to receive the prime minister when he landed in Dubai and that there were no senior UAE officials present, as is customary for the arrival foreign dignitaries.

The ministry has reportedly reassigned Tarid and Hasril to a pool of civil servants in the Public Services Department in Putrajaya. – April 11, 2022.