Interview with Tan Sri Kamil Jaafar: Commonwealth Oral History Project

Interview with Tan Sri Kamil Jaafar, conducted on 24th November 2014 as part of the Commonwealth Oral History Project. The project aims to produce a unique digital research resource on the oral history of the Commonwealth since 1965 through sixty oral history interviews with leading figures in the recent history of the organisation. It will provide an essential research tool for anyone investigating the history of the Commonwealth and will serve to promote interest in and understanding of the organisation. Biography: Jaafar, Kamil (Tan Sri Datuk Ahmad Kamil bin Jaafar). 1937- . Born in Kulim, Kedah, Malaysia. Graduated from the University of Malaya, 1962. Career in Administrative and Diplomatic Service, including embassy appointments in Thailand (1963), the Federal Republic of Germany (1967), Singapore (1969), and the United Nations in New York (1970), and terms as Malaysian Ambassador to Thailand (1975) Vietnam (1978), Switzerland (1980), China (1983) and Japan (1986). Secretary-General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia, 1989-1996. Appointed Special Envoy to the Prime Minister of Malaysia in 1996. Jaafar’s memoirs, entitled ‘Growing Up With the Nation’, were published in 2013.