Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin presented credentials to the ambassador-designate to the United States, Jamaluddin Jarjis, at Istana Negara today.

NONEThe former science, technology and innovation minister will fill the post left vacant by Rajmah Hussain who retired in June last year.

He was accompanied by his wife, Dr Kalsom Ismail and their children.

Jamaluddin, better known as 'JJ', is expected to fly to Washington end of this month.

He will only attain the status of a full-fledged ambassador after presenting his credentials to President Barack Obama at the White House in a ceremony expected to take place in September.

According to Bernama, Jamaluddin has built an illustrious career as an "energy man" where he assumed various high-ranking positions throughout his professional life prior to joining the cabinet as second finance minister in 2002.

Prior to that, he was chairperson of Tenaga Nasional Berhad.

He was also a former chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and of the Parliament Backbenchers Club.

Racial remark

A member of Parliament for Rompin since 1990, he has also been an Umno supreme council member since May 2000. He spent a term as a minister, before being dropped from the Cabinet lineup last year.

Jamaluddin also played a crucial role in sending the first Malaysian into space - doctor and part-time-model Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor - while he was still a minister in 2006.

Following this, Jamaluddin was involved in a major gaffe when he passed racial remarks against two Malaysian students when he was visiting the United States in 2007.

The matter was highlighted by Dr Sheena Moorthy in a letter to Malaysiakini, where Jamaluddin allegedly said there were 'two types' of Indians, whereby the one with darker skin was considered ‘lower class’.

Despite attracting considerable criticism, it is unsure if Jamaluddin ever retracted the remark.