UMW Holdings Berhad announced the appointment of Tan Sri Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Bin Yaakob, age 62, as Non Independent and Non Executive Director, effective from 13 December 2023. Working experience and occupation Tan Sri Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob is currently the Independent Non-Executive Director of Sime Darby Berhad and was appointed to the Board of Sime Darby Berhad on 8 June 2022.Tan Sri Shahrul started his diplomatic career in 1988 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia. He was appointed as the Administrative and Diplomatic Officer and assigned as the Assistant Secretary (East Asia) at the ministry, where he also held various positions including the Second Secretary to the Embassy of Malaysia in Beijing in May 1991, First Secretary to the Embassy of Malaysia in Washington D.C in June 1994, Minister Counsellor to the Embassy of Malaysia in Vienna in March 2002, Undersecretary for the Multilateral Political Division in September 2005, Ambassador of Malaysia to the State of Qatar from December 2007 to February 2010, Ambassador of Malaysia to the Republic of Austria from June 2010 to September 2013, Director General at ASEAN-Malaysia National Secretariat from October 2013 to January 2016, Deputy Secretary General (Bilateral Affairs) from January 2016 to January 2017.Tan Sri Shahrul was the Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations in New York from February 2017 to December 2018.

He was appointed the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia in January 2019 and served in that position until his retirement in May 2022.Tan Sri Shahrul was the Governor for Malaysia and Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governor from February 2010 to September 2010.