Head of Mission
High Commissioner of Malaysia to Canada
Her Excellency Dato' Dr Shazelina Zainul Abidin has been the High Commissioner of Malaysia to Canada since December 2024.
Prior to her appointment, Dr Shazelina was the Undersecretary of South and Central Asia (SCA) from September 2023 to November 2024. She was Director General of the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR), the training arm of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malaysia (August 2021 - August 2023).
Dr Shazelina's previous postings saw her in Washington D.C.(2001 - 2002), New York - at the Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations (2007 - 2011), and as Ambassador to the Republic of Senegal (2018 - 2021), where she is the only Malaysian thus far to be awarded the Ordre du Lion, at the rank of Commander, by the President Macky Sall.
Dr Shazelina started her career as Desk Officer for the Europe Division at the Ministry and went on to hold diverse portfolios in the multilateral department: multilateral economy, human rights and humanitarian affairs (which she headed twice), as well as heading the Division of Communication and Public Diplomacy (2016 - 2018).
Dr Shazelina holds a B.A. (Hons) in Law and Politics from Queen Mary College, University of London, and an M.Sc in International and European Politics from the University of Edinburgh, UK. Her PhD on the Politics of the Responsibility to Protect was accepted without amendments at the University of Sheffield, where she also holds a post as Honorary Researcher.
Blog: Diplomatic Life