Quoting sources, The Star reported that the dignitaries included ambassador to Indonesia Zahrain Mohamed Hashim and Malaysia’s first ambassador to the Vatican, Bernard Dompok.

Zahrain was the Penang PKR chief and Bayan Baru MP when he quit the party and became a BN-friendly independent in 2010.

He had criticised then-Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng, who was DAP secretary-general, over his leadership of the state. Lim was made the finance minister in the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal Cabinet following the general election last month.

Zahrain was appointed to the ambassadorial post after the general election of 2013, in which he did not run.

According to the report, he was expected to return to Malaysia today as his stint ended the same day.

It cited an embassy source as saying that Zahrain had made preparations to leave Jakarta a month ago.

“His bags are all packed, some are already in a container on its way to Kuala Lumpur,” the source was quoted as saying.

The tenure of Dompok, a former Sabah chief minister and federal minister, was terminated on June 7 but he was allowed a grace period ending today, the report said.

The former president of the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko), which was a BN component until after the election last month, had seen his appointment as ambassador extended to April 2020 after his initial appointment for two years from March 2016.

The other mission chiefs to be affected include ambassador to Finland Blanche O’Leary, who is the wife of former MyPPP president M Kayveas, and Malaysian Friendship and Trade Centre in Taiwan president Adeline Leong, a former Sandakan municipal council president, the report said.

Also facing the chopping block is high commissioner to Brunei Ghulam Jelani Khanizaman, who was formerly a permanent secretary of the Sabah state rural development ministry, it added.