Din Merican, Professor International Relations and Associate Dean, Techo Sen  School of Government and International Relations, The University of Cambodia (  2015), has a Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honours in Economics from The  University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  in 1963. He was on a scholarship  from his own state, Kedah DarulAman, Malaysia.

 In 1970, he graduated from The George Washington School of Business, The  George Washington University, Washington D.C., USA with a Masters Degree in  Business Administration in Finance and International Business (with distinction). He  was the Best Graduate Student in International Business for the Graduating Class of 1970. 

 
His graduate education in the United States was financed by Bank Negara Malaysia (The National Bank of Malaysia). In I989 he attended the well-known Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD (The European Business School), Fontainebleau, France. In 2006, Professor Merican was granted a Doctorate (Honoris Causia) in International Relations by The University of Cambodia.

Over the years, Din Merican served in many positions in both the public and private sectors. He began his career in 1964 at the Malaysian Foreign Ministry as Assistant Secretary (Political) in charge of Southeast Asia (covering Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Thailand and Burma) and military intelligence.

In 1965, Professor Merican left the Foreign Service to be with Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia) where he was promoted to become the youngest Secretary of the Bank’s Board of Directors in 1972. He left the Bank’s service and joined the private sector as Managing Director of a wholly owned consulting subsidiary of The Agricultural Bank of Malaysia (1973-1975).

In 1976 he was Director of Planning and Business Strategic Development in Kumpulan FIMA Berhad which was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad. Finally, in 1978—1991, he was with Sime Darby Group, Malaysia’s largest conglomerate, as Group Treasurer and progressed to become Director of Planning and Corporate Affairs, Regional Director (Malaysia) and Member of the Sime Darby Group Management Committee, Regional Director (Singapore) and Managing Director of Sime Darby Singapore.

In 1991 he served with PT Bakrie Brothers in Indonesia as Deputy Managing Director (Finance). He returned to Malaysia briefly before taking up residence with his family in Phnom Penh where he was co-founder of The British International School of Phnom Penh.  He was appointed Senior Research Fellow, The Cambodian Institute of Cooperation and Peace and Special Assistant  to H.E Dr. Kao Kim Hourn in 1996 (a position he held until 2013). He returned to Malaysia in 1997.

Back in Malaysia, he became a management consultant and served as Chairman, Amanah Saham Kedah Berhad (a state owned unit trust company) in 1998, Director, Bina Darul Aman Berhad (listed property company on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange) in 2008-2011. In 2000 he was project consultant to the University of Malaya, which led to the establishment of Asia-Europe Institute. He was made Adjunct Professor of Business( 2006) at The University of Cambodia.

He was Senior Research Fellow of Penang Institute (then known as SERI); he is an Advisory Board Member of The Center for Public Policy Studies of The Sunway Group and Associate Fellow, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.

Date: June 08, 2017