GOLF is the name of the game for diplomats, right?
Not so for M. Zamruni Khalid, the new Consul-General in New York. He looked almost pained when a staff member suggested over lunch last Thursday that he came for a golf event that weekend.
“Maybe, one day, you will develop a passion for it,” someone said.
Zamruni nodded somewhat but his face told a different story.
(For the record, he turned up at the driving range and quite enjoyed himself.)
The new boss at the Consulate-General of Malaysia has other interests for his spare time. He prefers books and museums, the latter probably the result of having spent almost five years in France.
It was also in Paris where he laboured over his thesis for a Masters in Comparative Politics that he wrote entirely in French.
“I remember asking myself ‘why am I subjecting myself to this? It was tough,” Zamruni said, laughing.
But he has always liked languages and now the French-speaking Zamruni is deciding whether to pick up Arabic or Spanish.
Growing up in Kuala Terengganu the middle child among nine offspring, he loved geography and often devoured his father’s encyclopaedias.
“I memorised the flags of other countries and their capital cities. I can identify the flags of all UN nations,” he said.
Likewise, he knows the currencies as well. Guatemala? Quetzal, he said.
Asked about his boyhood days, he paused for quite a while. “Memories?” he repeated, thinking long and hard. “My childhood is so ordinary,” he grinned.
As a kid, he was never naughty but always studious and shy. Almost a geek, if you must.
Zamruni, who earned an accounting degree from Purdue University, Indiana, spent a year in the then Arthur Andersen in Kuala Lumpur after graduating before beginning his “national service”.
His 14 years with the Foreign Affairs Ministry has seen him posted to Hanoi (1996-2000) and Paris (2000-2002).
“Hanoi was very dynamic. It was just opening up when I first got there. No cinema for English movies, no fast food, no bookstores. I felt lonely and isolated during the first few months,” he said of his posting as a second secretary.
Throughout his stint, he saw the city grew with bigger streets, more traffic lights and motorcycles replacing bicycles on the road.
“There were some occasions when we slaughtered chickens and cows ourselves,” he said, when asked about halal food.
Zamruni paid tribute to Malaysia’s ambassador to Vietnam then, Datuk Cheah Sam Kip, for being his guiding light. “I really learned a lot from him.”
The senior guy taught the young man what to do, whom to meet, etc, upon arriving in a country. “Datuk Cheah laid the foundation for me, letting me gather the bricks and build the bridge,” he recalled.
In France where he was also second secretary; he recounted a meeting with then president Jacques Chirac whom he described as a gentleman (“he would kiss a lady’s hand”) and an admirer of Asian culture.
“All of us were wearing Baju Melayu and samping when we were at the presidential palace. You could tell that he really admired it.”
It is a different ball game now for Zamruni since he assumed the New York posting on June 16, his highest promotion so far.
As the Consul-General, his task is to look after Malaysian interests and student welfare, besides providing the usual consular services such as issuance of passports and visas, and registration of births and marriages. Malaysia has 20 consulates abroad.
“Prior to this, I have always dealt with multilateral issues. So, being sent here is itself a challenge for me. I would need to deal more on the human side now, meeting people and to be close to the Malaysian community and to provide services for them,” he said.
He already has a list of organisations that he wanted to meet.
Zamruni loves being in the Foreign Service. “The work is never a routine. You are always doing different things.”
The downside is the frequent uprooting. “Each posting is usually about three years. You get to know people and by the time you have cultivated friendships, it is time to leave. A bit disruptive, but that’s life.”
At 40, Zamruni is still a bachelor. Not for long, though, as he is engaged to a teacher whom he met two years ago. The couple will be married next year.
Besides reading “serious stuff”, he likes novels such as Gabriel García Márquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude and The Kite Runner by Afghan author Khaled Hosseini.
Zamruni, who listens to oldies from the 50s (P. Ramlee, Saloma, Normadiah), is keen to explore the theatre and museums here. “Is Mamma Mia really good?” he asked of the Broadway play.
Golf, clearly, isn’t the only game in town.
