This book is a modest attempt to reminisce my career as a PTD officer. I have served 46 years as a government servant, 35 years as a PTD officer and 11 years as the Auditor-General of Malaysia. Not many officers have served that long in the service of the nation.

The Pegawai Tadbir & Diplomatik Service(PTD) has been hailed as the nation’s premier service, as successor to the Malaysian Home and Foreign Service (MHFS) in 1972. The MHFS was the successor to the Malayan Civil Service (MCS) in 1966, which was set up in 1921 by the British Colonial Administration. The PTD and its precursors, the MCS and the MHFS, have played a pivotal and strategic role in national development since the nation attained its independence in 1957.

It has been responsive to the political leadership of the day, always mindful of its political neutrality obligation. Coincidently, the year 2021, the year my little book is published, marks the 100th Anniversary of the MCS and the PTD. Unfortunately, not much has been written about the PTD and MCS. To the best of my knowledge, there were four books written about the PTD/MCS, namely ‘At the Forefront of Nation Building’ by Sheens Gurbakhash & Fiona Ghaus; ‘Taking The Road Less Travelled’ by Datuk Dr Shaari Ahmad Jabar; ‘Service Par Excellence’ by Datuk Wan Mansur Abdullah; and ‘Tun Abdullah Ayub’ by Fatini Yaacob and Toh Puan Anna Abdul Ranee.