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My Journey in Wisma Putra – the

Early Part of the Journey

Syed Sultan Idris

Pre Wisma Putra Days
It all started at INTAN when I was pursuing my Diploma in Public
Management. During the International Relations Module, seeing how active
I was, my colleagues warned me that if I talk too much or participated too
actively, they would send me to Wisma Putra. Well, deep in my heart that
was where I wanted to serve after completing the programme after all. It was
further strengthened when we made a study trip to Wisma Putra. T e aura
there, with well-dressed and f uent English speaking of cers, drew me in. I
was especially impressed with (the late) Dato’ Siddiq Firdause Mohd Ali, a
smart looking gentleman who looked very cultured.

Reporting for Duty at Wisma Putra
On the f rst day of reporting for duty, we gathered at the meeting room of
C Block, Wisma Putra in Kuala Lumpur then, now IDFR.

After the brief ng by the Undersecretary for Services, (Dato’) Mr. Zainal
Alias, I slotted to the East Asia Division together with (Dato’) Zulkif i
Adnan who ended up covering North Korea (DPRK) and South Korea
(ROK) while yours truly was given the Japan Desk. T ere were three of us
in the Division sharing the same room, with the third being the Assistant
Director of China Desk.

I still remember vividly, our then Foreign Minister, Tun Ghazali Shaf e,
reminding us that Wisma Putra of cers are the f rst line of defence, adding
that “when you guys fail, the military has to step in”. T is reminder was
deeply rooted in my mind and became my driving force when serving
Wisma Putra both at headquarters and at post.

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