Azizan Zainul Abidin


Azizan bin Zainul Abidin was a Malaysian corporate figure and president of the Putrajaya Corporation and of Petronas.

Life

Azizan was born on May 28, 1935, in Air Itam, Penang. He had 3 children with his wife Noor Ainne Chen Teh: Amir Hamzah Azizan, Norizan Azizan and Ikhwan Azizan and 7 grand children

Career

In 1960 he joined the Ministry of Education, becoming senior private secretary to the Second Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein. In 1988, he retired as chief secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Post-government career

Azizan joined Petronas as Petronas President and Chief Executive Officer, holding the position from February 1988 to February 1995. In addition, he was a chairman of Malaysia Airlines, Putrajaya Corporation, KLCC Holdings Sdn Bhd, Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd, MTBE Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Petronas Trading Limited, Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd and Suria KLCC Sdn Bhd.
He is remembered for his work in developing Putrajaya, the Federal Government Administrative Centre.
He was appointed Pro-Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and a member of the World Economic Forum; Kuala Lumpur hosted the forum in 2002. He was Chairman of the ASEAN-Canada Business Council, Treasurer of the Crime Prevention Foundation and a Member of the Management Improvement Commission of the Royal Malaysian Police.

Death

Azizan died on July 14, 2004, at the age of 68, and was buried at the Muslim Cemetery in Taman Selatan, Putrajaya.

Honours

On June 5, 2010, five years after his death, he was posthumously awarded the Malaysian federal highest award, the Seri Setia Mahkota Malaysia, which carries the title "Tun" in conjunction with the birthday of the 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, at Istana Negara, Kuala Lumpur.
He also received the Order of the Commander of the Legion of Honour from the French government in October 2003, the Norwegian government award for "outstanding contribution to quality " in management in 1992 and the Vietnam Friendship Medal by the government in September 2001.

Honours of Malaysia

A cargo ship converted by Petronas for use in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone is named after him.