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Of Guns without

Bullets

Ahmad Izlan Idris

I joined the Ministry of Foreign Af airs in January 1984 and was f rst assigned
to the Protocol Division as Assistant Secretary (Privileges). At that time, the
Protocol Division was made up of three dif erent units i.e. Ceremonials,
Privileges and Treaty. As someone new and inexperienced, I had to learn the
ropes pretty fast. And it was fast, embarrassingly very fast.

After about a month on the job, I was assigned as the duty of cer at an
of cial dinner to be hosted by Tun Ghazali Shaf e, the Foreign Minister at
that time, and at the Paddock, Kuala Lumpur Hilton to boot! Yes, it was one
of the ‘in’ places to be at the time. It was my f rst time to be assigned as duty
of cer for an important event. Usually the task would fall on one of the two
Assistant Secretaries from the Ceremonials Unit, but they were occupied
with an of cial visit.

T at morning I was called by the Senior Assistant Secretary (Ceremonials) to
help out. He told me not to worry as everything had been arranged, and that
the assignment was a training and an exposure for me. No arguments there,
and I thought that it was such a simple task.

My job as duty of cer, among others, was to ensure that the guests were
properly seated at the dinner table according to the table seating plan drawn
up earlier by the Ceremonials Unit, and that all other arrangements were in
order. T e guests’ name cards were placed properly at the dinner table, and
after going through the checklist several times, I was satisf ed that everything
was in order.

I was happily looking forward to the black pepper steak at the bar-restaurant

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