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Mazlan Ahmad

Chairman, Education Service Commission, former Director General of the Public Service, and former Lord Mayor of Kuala Lumpur

Dr Mazlan received his Ph D in Public Administration from The University of Southern California in 1982, his MPA from The University of Pittsburgh in 1973, while his first degree majoring in history was from the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.

Dr Mazlan has had a long and distinguished career spanning 33 years in the Administrative and Diplomatic Service of the Government of Malaysia. He retired in 1998 as the Director General of the Public Service, the second most senior position in the civil service. In that position he had been responsible for the overall personnel management system of the Government of Malaysia, overseeing the development and performance of the entire public service.

After a short spell in the Malaysian Ministry of Finance where he began in 1966, Dr Mazlan found his way into the area of training in the public service. This coincided with the movement to develop and modernize the country's civil service, and training was one of its main thrusts. Dr Mazlan participated in and contributed to this development which saw the birth and rapid expansion of the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN). From its humble beginning in 1972 the institute has grown to be one of the biggest training institutes in the world, with its main campus in Kuala Lumpur and five regional campuses throughout the country. INTAN now offers about 1,200 training programs annually. In 2003 almost 42,000 civil servants attended INTAN'S programs including some 250 foreign participants under Malaysia's Technical Cooperation program.

Dr Mazlan ended his stint in INTAN in 1988 after serving as its fourth Director from 1984. He then progressed within the Civil Service to become Secretary General of two ministries in succession, The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Information. As the administrative head in the ministry he was responsible for recommending policy options to the Minister, and for implementing them. He moved to serve a further one year in the powerful Ministry of Finance as its Deputy Secretary General in charge of operations.

In 1992 Dr Mazlan was seconded to the City Hall of Kuala Lumpur, as Mayor. In this capacity he reported directly to the Prime Minister, and had overall responsibility for the day to day management of the city, as well as guiding its growth and development as the premier city and showcase of the country. The period when he served as mayor also coincided with rapid economic development of the country and consequently its capital city. The city's rapid transit system was put into place and planning and construction of the city's landmark developments, the Kuala Lumpur Tower, and the Kuala Lumpur City Centre twin towers were started. All three developments were nearing completion by the time Dr Mazlan left the chair of Mayor in December 1995 to take up the position of Director General of the Public Service.

Upon retirement from the civil service in 1998, Dr Mazlan was appointed as Chairman of the Education Service Commission. The Commission is a permanent independent body responsible for the recruitment, confirmation, and discipline of the country's teachers, which now number some 300,000.

Dr Mazlan is married to Noraini Hashim, and they have two children and three grandchildren.