Our Team in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam

Dr. Asa Torkelsson was appointed the UNFPA Country Representative in Malaysia and Country Director for Thailand on 1 November 2021.

Previously, she was the UNFPA Representative in Bangladesh, where she led and grown one of UNFPA’s largest operations and teams through significant changes, humanitarian and natural disasters, the Rohingya refugee,- and COVID crises.

Dr. Torkelsson’s career spans 20+ years, leading increasingly complex endeavours at country, - regional, and HQ, in UN (FAO, IFAD, UN Women, WB), academia, Government, NGO, private sector, relentlessly pursuing gender equality and the M/SDGs, and expanding spaces for women.

Ms. Cynthia Veliko has worked across the UN system since 1999. She has served with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) since March 2006 as Human Rights Advisor in three countries – Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines and was appointed in August 2017 as Regional Representative to OHCHR Regional Office for South-East Asia.

Prior to joining OHCHR, Ms. Veliko worked for five years at WHO for the Polio Eradication Initiative, supporting the global polio partners and governments and UNCTs in South Asia and Africa.

Dr Rabi Abeyasinghe is the WHO Representative to Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore. Prior to that, he was the WHO Representative to the Philippines. He was acting Director Health Security and Emergencies at the World Health Organizations Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO) based in Manila, Philippines from 30th April 2020 to 21st June 2020, supporting the regional response to COVID-19.

He was Coordinator, Malaria Other Vectorborne and Parasitic Diseases at WPRO from 2015 – 2019 and has served WHO since 2011 in various capacities including acting Director Communicable Diseases WPRO (May to October 2018, May to July 2019), Regional Entomologist WPRO and Technical Officer Malaria in Papua New Guinea.

Rabi is a Medical Specialist MD (Community Medicine) from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Additionally, he has a MSc in Biology & Control of Disease Vectors from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene from the Royal College of Physicians, London. Earlier he held several senior positions in the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka including Director National Malaria Control Programme and Project Director, GFATM Projects.

He is a Fellow of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka and a past President of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka.

Dr. S. Ismail Shah is a renowned ICT professionals with an extensive background in technology implementation, ICT policy-making and regulations. He has also worked on many initiatives for Persons with Disabilities, Women Empowerment, Big data analytics, Internet of Things, cellular technologies, Shared Economy and Digital Entrepreneurship.

Dr. Shah holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, USA.

As Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific, Eamonn Murphy supports countries across the region in achieving the goals outlined in the 2016 United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS. He leads and facilitates a joint United Nations response to support countries and their HIV programmes, which includes strengthening the links between governments, civil society, the United Nations system and development partners.

Mr Murphy has a Masters of Health (Merit) from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Education from the Australian Catholic University.

Mr. Firas Mihyar has been with UNDSS in Malaysia since Oct 2018. Firas has been working with the United Nations since 1997 and prior to that with Ministry of Internal and Foreign Affairs of Jordan. He is a security expert, having served in several positions with United nations in most demanding humanitarian emergency and civil unrest UN missions Angola, Congo, Lesotho, Maseru, Zimbabwe, Angola, Algeria, Sudan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Kurdistan Iraq.

Firas holds master’s in international law, Diplomacy and International Relations, a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Law and a Diploma in Law Enforcement / Police Science College Jordan. While an Arabic native speaker, Firas is fluent in both English and Portuguese.

Ms. Rinas was appointed by the Director-General as Head of Office representing the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from May 2018. Her service includes seven years in IOM with postings as Head of Office, Damak, Nepal, and Head of Refugee Resettlement for South Asia, also based in Nepal. Prior to joining IOM she was with the Resettlement Support Center, Africa for six years, based in Nairobi, Kenya as Operations Coordinator, the Country Coordinator in N’djamena, Chad, and Processing Supervisor in Accra, Ghana.

Ms. Rinas holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Quinnipiac University, School of Business, and a B.A. in Political Science and Religion from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN, U.S.A.

Jaspreet Singh has been working in the area of digital economy across the Asia region. He leads the work of UNCDF in Asia to unlock innovative solutions and business models by engaging with public and private sector stakeholders with a focus on contributing to SDGs.

He joined UNCDF in 2015 and since worked on expanding the portfolio on digital across Asia. He has worked in banking across various portfolios agriculture and rural banking, SME and investment banking with ICICI Bank during mid-2000.

Jeremy Douglas is the Regional Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for Southeast Asia and the Pacific overseeing and managing operations and strategy from Myanmar to the Pacific in the areas of the rule of law, non-traditional security threats, law enforcement, criminal justice and drug-related supply and health issues.

He is also the UNODC liaison to China, Korea, Japan and Mongolia and to regional organisations including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS). Prior to his appointment as Regional Representative SEAP, he was the UNODC Representative in Pakistan from September 2009 – April 2013.

Joan Sawe joined the UNU as Director of Administration in October 2014. She brings extensive administrative and managerial experience from her prior positions, notably, she served as the Director of Administrative Services at UNFCCC in Bonn, Germany; Director of Corporate Services at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) in Stockholm, Sweden; Director of Finance and Operations at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya; as well as International Head of Financial Performance and Standards at ActionAid International in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Joan holds a MSc in Forensic Accounting from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, an MBA with honors from Tel-Aviv International School of Management (TISOM) in Israel and a BBA with honors from Acadia University in Canada. She also is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Ms. Kamala Ernest is a Programme Management Officer at UNEP Asia and the Pacific Office. Ms. Ernest is the Coordinator of the SEA circular project, which aims to reduce plastic waste in the South-east Asia region. She leads engagements with governments, businesses and other partners in the region to enhance the management of the plastic value chain to reduce land-based plastic leakage into the marine environment. She has 20 years of progressive experience working with the private sector, governments, and the UN on sustainable development. She started her work career in Malaysia and has since worked in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Europe. Ms. Ernest, a Malaysian national, is currently based in Bangkok

Prior to his post in Jakarta, he served as Deputy Director of the Bureau of Strategic Planning (BSP) at Headquarters since October 2016. Mr Djelid holds a postgraduate diploma in commerce (1983) from the Algiers Institute of Commerce (Algeria) and a master's degree in business administration (1986) from the University of Sherbrooke (Canada). Before joining UNESCO, Mohamed Djelid worked in the private sector in Montreal (Canada), implementing international projects in developing countries and countries in transition.

Mohammad NACIRI has been appointed as the Regional Director of UN Women for Asia and the Pacific. From 2015 to 2018, he was the Regional Director of UN Women in the Arab States.

A national of Morocco, Mohammad holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and International Development from the Harvard University, as well as a master’s degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford. He also has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Arab Academy for Science and Technology in Alexandria-Egypt.

Niloy is a development economist with specialization in effective institutions and capacity development. He previously led the UN System Affairs Group in UNDP, based in New York. In this position he led UNDP’s interface with UN agencies, funds and programmes, and with Member States in the arena of intergovernmental affairs. He has also led UNDP’s engagement in the round of UN reforms.

Niloy has a Masters in Economics from New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and is a Fellow of the City University of New York.

Ms Panudda Boonpala is appointed Deputy Regional Director of the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, with effect from 1 January 2018. Prior to that, Ms Boonpala has held the position of Director of the ILO Decent Work Team for South Asia and Country Office for India. Ms. Boonpala has been with the ILO since 1995, serving the ILO in Geneva, Bangkok, Dhaka and New Delhi.

Ms Boonpala holds an MA in Labour Administration and Management from the Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand.

Professor Pascale Allotey is the Director of the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH). With a multidisciplinary background in clinical health sciences, anthropology, and epidemiology, she has two decades of experience as a researcher in global health across four continents to promote health and well-being.

She holds a PhD in Public Health and a MMedSci degree in Community Health from the University of Western Australia

Dr Rashed Mustafa Sarwar began his tour of duty as UNICEF Representative in Malaysia in July 2020. Dr Sarwar previously served as the UNICEF Representative in the Republic of Belarus from 2015 to 2020. He has 25 years of experience with UNICEF and other UN agencies in Azerbaijan, Russia, East Timor, Georgia and Tajikistan, among others.

Dr Sarwar is a national of the People's Republic of Bangladesh and has an advanced medical degree in Medicine from the former Soviet Union.

Stein R. Hansen is an Economist who has been working in international development for 27 years. Since February 2017, he is the Regional Director and Representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand, where he also represents UNIDO in the UNSDG Asia Pacific Regional Directors group, and the UN Regional Coordination Mechanism.

In addition to being an Economist, Stein R. Hansen holds a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University with focus on international development. He is also a Senior Executive Fellow of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Ms. Sumalee Sterup-Hansen was appointed by the World Food Programme (WFP) to head the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in Malaysia from August 2021. Before joining WFP, she worked in the private sector as a professional in shipping and chartering.

She started working for the World Food Programme in 1999, holding positions at headquarter, country offices, and regional bureau. She has led Shipping, Logistics, Disaster & Risk Reduction and Supply Chain Management team in Middle East, Asia and Central- East- West Africa region. In her various positions and capacities, she has been supporting country programme and various level 3 emergencies operations.

Sylvie Betemps has worked for ITC for 19 year. She possesses experience in multi-country technical assistance for developing countries, including strong knowledge of external relations management with governments, country officials, private sector organizations, donors, enterprises, NGOs and aid agencies. She is specialized in project management and coordination, client relationship management, project development and design, trade-related technical assistance and private sector development.

Mr. Thomas Albrecht took up his assignment as Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kuala Lumpur in early 2019. Mr. Albrecht previously served as Regional Representative in Canberra from 2014 to 2018, with geographical responsibility for the region.

Mr. Albrecht joined UNHCR in 1987 and worked in refugee situations in the East and Horn of Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, the Americas as well as Eastern and Central Europe.

Mr. Muntean has over 37 years of extensive experience acquired in government institutions, civil society organizations, private sector and with the UN System. His experience includes 28 years of progressively responsible national and international functions in substantive development programming, operations management, client service and coordination.

Mr. Muntean started his career with UNDP in 1994 as a National Programme Officer in UNDP Moldova. He subsequently served as UNDP Deputy Resident Representative/Deputy Country
Director in Uzbekistan, Papua New Guinea, Gambia, Ethiopia and Pakistan. Since joining BMS, Vitalie has worked as the Partner Services Coordinator, leading the Client Support Services team (BMS/CSS) that is accountable for the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the UN Secretariat and UNDP for the provision of operational services to the UN Resident Coordinator System.

Mr. Vitalie Muntean is a national of the Republic of Moldova and holds a master’s degree in International Economic Relations from the State Institute for International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.