Penang Governor Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak and The Star Advisor Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai during an interview session at Seri Mutiara. ( June 20, 2023 ) - ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak is a good conversationalist and anyone who has a chance to talk to him would also find that he is a good listener.
Besides that, he is also known for punctuality and penchant for details.
Those who work with him attribute his training as a diplomat.
We were scheduled to have an interview with the Yang di-Pertua Negri at 4.30pm.
In a clockwork precision, he walked down from the top floor of Seri Mutiara (formerly known as The Residency), the official residence of Penang’s head of state.
The mansion, built by the British in 1888, looks grand to Penangites who pass by the building daily especially with the sprawling garden but it is actually modest inside.
It served as the official home of the highest-ranking British officer in Penang until independence in 1957.
Ahmad Fuzi has a directive to the staff – that all the lights and air-condition must be switched off when not in use.
Said an aide: “Tun is a true-blue Penangite who believes in thriftiness. Whatever could be reused was restored to be reused.’’
Ahmad Fuzi is an ardent reader who peruses all major newspapers and publications including online media daily, another officer said.
He also reviews all the content details before they are uploaded on his official social media platform, sometimes only finding the time to do so late into the night.
Like a diplomat who must draft out a communique or a statement, he is meticulous and detailed, insisting on the correct and appropriate word, prose and even down to the comma.
After all, he has served as a diplomat in Moscow, The Hague, Canberra, Washington DC, and Dhaka as well as all positions from assistant secretary up to secretary-general – Wisma Putra’s top post – from 2001-2006, and as ambassador at large until 2009.
But more importantly, Ahmad Fuzi has the distinction of being the first diplomat to become a Yang di-Pertua Negri.
