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MALAYSIAN DIPLOMATS: OUR STORIES

completed a much-needed surgery in Vienna, Austria, and was undergoing a
few months of recuperation. However, due to complications, my health began
to deteriorate. It was a very dif cult time, as I visited doctors from hospital
to hospital to receive the correct diagnosis and treatments. Unfortunately,
the medical conditions in Romania were not able to relieve me of my health
issues, and when I was forced to visit Austria again, I was wheeled into
the airport on a wheelchair, and carried onto the plane. I was very lucky
to have received adequate treatment in Vienna, and my health improved
tremendously in such a short span of time that I was able to healthily jump
back onto a plane for Romania. I am regretful that Romania was not able
to help me with my health issues, and I was put in a very dif cult and
potentially tragic situation. But those times were aided and brightened by
the close Romanian friends I had made. T ey stuck with me through thick
and thin, and were always supportive. T ey contacted everyone they knew
to help me get back my health. It was there that I knew the true meaning
of friendship; those who support and give everything they have to help you.

In those f ve and a half years, I had travelled from north to south and east to
west of Romania. I had eaten their food and sang their songs. I had found a
hotel that served the best papanasi and sat in a jubilant crowd of opera goers.
I had conversed long into the night about dif erent cultures and stayed next
to a friend consoling him of a tragic passing. I had done all these, but it
would have been nothing without the people I have met. T ere in Romania
are the people I would never forget.

Perak-born Datin Paduka Halimah Abdullah served as Malaysia’s Ambassador to Romania
(2005 -2011) and to Italy (2011-2015). She also served in Malaysian embassies in Belgium,
People’s Republic of China, Australia and T ailand. After retiring from service in 2015, she
is presently with the Italy-Malaysia Business Association/IMBA as Vice President.

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