Fauziah Mohd Taib (ed.) - Number One Wisma Putra

Number One Wisma Putra celebrates more than half a century of service to Malaysia by the country’s Foreign Service. Its humble origins date back to July 1956 as External Affairs Ministry of the then Federation of Malaya, before Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj became the first Minister of Foreign Affairs in September 1957 - only ten days after independence from Britain. Today, No. 1 Wisma Putra happens to be the address of the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the country’s new administrative capital, Putrajaya, which is only a short drive south of Kuala Lumpur, where the Ministry had its beginnings. As pointed out in the foreword by Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who from 1991 to 1999 served also as the country’s foreign minister, ‘Wisma Putra’ is the popular non-official name for the Ministry, thus fondly remembering its founder Tunku Abdul Rahman, the ‘Father of Malaysia’s Independence’.