H.E. Latifah Zaini has been appointed as the Permanent Representative of Brunei Darussalam to ASEAN since 28 February 2023. H.E. Latifah also serves as the Representative of Brunei Darussalam to the Governing Council of the ASEAN-IPR.
A career diplomat, H.E. Latifah joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006. Before her Ambassadorial appointment, she was the Deputy-Director General of the ASEAN-Brunei Darussalam National Secretariat from July 2019. Her other assignments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs include Minister Counsellor at the Department of Europe and Americas in 2015 – 2019 and Assistant Director at the Middle East Division in 2012 – 2014. She was posted as the Second Secretary at the Embassy of Brunei Darussalam in Arab Republic of Egypt in 2019 – 2012.
H.E. Latifah was awarded with the Excellent Civil Service Employee Award in 2014 and Pingat Indah Kerja Bakti in 2017.
H.E. Latifah graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Arabic Linguistics from Al-Azhar University, Arab Republic of Egypt. Aside from Malay language, she also speaks English and Arabic. She is married with two children.
Ambassador Heng Sarith started his career as a Diplomat since 2006. He served as Second Secretary of the Royal Embassy of Cambodia to the Republic of Indonesia and Permanent Mission of Cambodia to ASEAN from 2012-2015. Prior to his appointment as Permanent Representative of Cambodia, He had worked as the Deputy Director-General of the General Department of ASEAN, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation from 2018-2022.
He had also worked as a Research Fellow at Cambodia Institute for Strategic Studies (CISS) and Cambodian Institute for Peace and Cooperation (CICP) from 2016-2017. He got his Master Degree on Public Policy in September 2010 from National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Tokyo, Japan.
He was awarded with Royal Order of Monisaraphon Chavalier in 2019.
He is married with three children.
H.E. Adam Mulawarman Tugio is the Representative of Indonesia to the Governing Council of the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (ASEAN-IPR). He currently also holds the position of Advisor to the Minister on Political, Legal, and Security Affairs MOFA Indonesia. Previously, He served as the Indonesia’s Ambassador to Islamabad from 2020-2023. He pursued a career as a diplomat for 30 years. Prior to that, He served as Director for General Affairs (2014-2016), Director of North American Affairs (2016-2017), and Deputy Chief of Mission (2017-2020). H.E. Adam Mulawarman Tugio has a Master of Law degree from American University, Washington DC and a Bachelor law degree from the University of Indonesia.
H.E. Bovonethat DOUANGCHAK has been appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the Lao PDR to ASEAN since August 2021. He also serves as the Representative of the Lao PDR to the Governing Council of the ASEAN-IPR.
Ambassador Bovonethat DOUANGCHAK began his career as official of the ASEAN Economic Cooperation Department of Ministry of Commerce from 1998 to 1999; Senior Official from 1999 to 2006 and Deputy Director from 2006-2007 of the Economic Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA); Second Secretary at the Permanent Mission of the Lao PDR to the United Nations in New York from 2007 to 2011; Director of the ASEM Division from 2011-2013 and Director of International Economic Division from 2013-2014, Department of Economic Affairs; Counselor from 2015-2016, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim from July 2016 to January 2017 and Deputy Permanent Representative from 2017 to 2018 at the Permanent Mission of the Lao PDR to the United Nations (UN) Office and other International Organisations in Geneva. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Lao PDR to ASEAN, he served as Deputy Director-General of ASEAN Department from February 2019 to July 2021.
Ambassador Bovonethat graduated with a Master of Public Policy, Major of Economics and Public Policy at KDI School of Public Policy and Management in Seoul, Republic of Korea in 2002; Bachelor of Business Administration, Major of International Business Management with 1st Class Honours at University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok in 1997; and Diploma of Civil Engineer at the School of Communication and Transportation, Road and Bridge Engineering in Vientiane, Lao PDR.
******************
H.E. Datin Sarah Al Bakri Devadason is the Malaysian Representative to the ASEAN-IPR Governing Council. She is the Permanent Representative of Malaysia to ASEAN.
She is a career diplomat who joined the Malaysian Administrative and Diplomatic Service in March 1994. She read law and graduated with LLB (Hons.) from the University of Malaya and completed the postgraduate Diploma in Public Management from the National Institute of Public Administration, Malaysia. She was admitted to the Malaysian Bar (Roll of Advocates and Solicitors) before the High Court of Malaya in Peninsula Malaysia in 1994.
Prior to joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Wisma Putra), she had served at Malaysia Airlines and the Ministry of Defence. Since joining Wisma Putra in 1996, she has been assigned to its ASEAN Department, Territorial and Maritime Affairs Division, Adjudication and Arbitration Division, Policy Planning and Strategy Department and Human Rights and Humanities Division. Her foreign assignments have been as Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations in New York (2001 – 2004), as well as Minister Counsellor and subsequently, Deputy Permanent Representative of Malaysia to ASEAN in Jakarta (2010 – 2013). Prior to the current assignment, she served as the Ambassador of Malaysia to Germany from 2017 to 2020.
Married to Syed Mohamad Hasrin Tengku Hussin, a fellow diplomat, Sarah is blessed with five sons.
H.E. U Aung Myo Myint was born on 26 July 1964 in Zalun Township of Ayeyawady Region. He currently sits as the Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to ASEAN. Prior, he was appointed as the Director-General to the Strategic and Training Department of Myanmar in September 2019. He attained his Bachelor of Arts in 1984 from Yangon University majoring in English before pursuing a Master Degree in Southeast Asia Studies in Tsubuka University, Japan in 2005.
H.E. U Aung Myo Myint began his political career in 1986 as an Attach in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar, undertaking many diplomatic posts including in New Delhi (1991-1993) as Third Secretary; Kathmandu (1999-2003) as Second and later first Secretary; Beijing (2005-2008) as First Secretary and Counsellor, and Brussels (2011-2014) as Counsellor/Minister Counsellor. Following his tenure as Assistant Director of Political Department from 2003 to 2005, he has been appointed, among others, as Deputy Director of ASEAN Affairs Department (2008-2011), Director of ASEAN Affairs Department (2014-2016), Deputy Director-General of ASEAN Affairs Department, and Deputy Permanent Representative/Minister of the Permanent Mission of Myanmar to the UN in Geneva (2018-2019).
His extensive experience has granted him with three awards celebrating his contribution to civil service, namely the Law and Order Award (1994), the Civil Service Award (2006), and the Excellent Civil Service Award (2019).
*******
Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Philippines to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Ambassador Quintana is a career diplomat. She served in the Philippine diplomatic missions in Beijing (China), Washington, DC (USA), Dublin (Ireland), Muscat (Oman), and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. In her concurrent capacity as Ambassador to the UAE, Ambassador Quintana served as Permanent Representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
Prior to her appointment as Ambassador to the UAE, she was Assistant Secretary in charge of the Office of the Middle East and Africa Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Ambassador Quintana has a B.A. Political Science and Master in International Relations degrees from the University of the Philippines. She also has a Master of International Public Policy degree from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. She took Diplomatic Studies in Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Gerard Ho Wei Hong has been Singapore’s Permanent Representative to ASEAN in Jakarta since August 2023.
Mr. Ho was Singapore’s Ambassador to the Republic of Philippines from March 2019 to June 2023. Prior to this, Mr. Ho was Director-General of the ASEAN Directorate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs from January 2015 to February 2019.
Since joining the Singapore Foreign Service in 1997, Mr. Ho has served in various capacities on issues related to International Organisations and Southeast Asia. Mr. Ho served as First Secretary (Political) in the Singapore Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from June 2000 to July 2003, First Secretary (Political) in the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur from January 2004 to July 2007 and Deputy Chief of Mission in the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta from February 2010 to December 2014.
Mr. Ho graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History from the National University of Singapore in 1997. He subsequently obtained a Master of
Arts in Political Science from Columbia University, United States of America, in 2009.
Mr. Ho was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2019 and the Long Service Medal in 2020. He was also awarded the Order of Sikatuna with the rank of Datu (Grand Cross) by the Government of the Philippines in 2023.
Dr. Ton Thi Ngoc Huong was appointed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam as the Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to ASEAN, starting her term from May 2024.
Her previous position was Director-General of the Foreign Services Training Center at the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam from December 2021 to April 2024.
For most of her diplomatic career, she has been with the ASEAN Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has diverse experience on ASEAN, including, among others, having served Viet Nam’s chairmanship of ASEAN for three times in 2000-2001, 2010, and 2020; assisted in the Eminent Persons’ Group and the High-Level Task Force on the drafting of the ASEAN Charter, the High-level Legal Experts’ Group on Follow-up to the ASEAN Charter (HLEG) and handling Viet Nam’s coordinatorship of ASEAN’s Dialogue Relations with several partners. She was Assistant Director-General from April 2009, Deputy Director-General of the ASEAN Department from December 2010 to December 2013, and from January 2018 to November 2021.
She was posted to the Embassy of Viet Nam in Kuala Lumpur from 2014-2017, being Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission.
Her major research interests are on ASEAN, regional affairs, and multilateral diplomacy.
She graduated from the Ha Noi University of Foreign Studies (with distinction) and the National Economics University of Ha Noi. She earned a Master Degree in International Public Policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a Ph.D. degree at the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam in International Relations.
