The position had been vacant for more than four months since the previous ambassador, Nazri Aziz, ended his two-year stint in Washington in February.

Shahrul, a career diplomat, received his letter of appointment from Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim at Istana Negara today.

Shahrul served in the diplomatic service for 34 years, including two stints in the US.

He was previously assigned to Malaysia’s diplomatic missions in Washington and Beijing, among others.

Shahrul held several key positions during his tenure at the foreign ministry, including deputy secretary-general for bilateral affairs, director-general of the Asean-Malaysia National Secretariat during Malaysia’s Asean chairmanship in 2015, and undersecretary of the multilateral political division.

He served as first secretary at Malaysia’s embassy in Washington in the 1990s and was the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York from 2017 to 2018.

He also served as Malaysia’s ambassador to both Qatar and Austria.