Update: Term ends for Langkawi Development Authority CEO

KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 – Dr Hezri Adnan, a development specialist and an author, ended his term as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) on Sunday.

Dr Hezri, who holds a PhD in Public Policy from the Australian National University, when contacted by WE, did not disclose the reason for ending his term, except to say that he had been informed by the Federal Government on March 17 that his term will be ended effective April 3.

News of him leaving LADA came as a surprise for many engaged with him in various programmes that had been undertaken to recover the island’s travel and tourism industry following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The author of several books including, The Sustainability Shift: Refashioning Malaysia’s Future, Dr Hezri was appointed as LADA CEO in April 2019.

Asked on his plans, Dr Hezri said there were several options but added that he will be on a break before taking up any new post. He said he would be also continuing with the study on Food-Energy-Water Nexus which he has undertaken for the Malaysian government.

A popular travel destination for both local and foreign tourists, the island’s travel and hospitality industry was among the many affected with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Langkawi’s tourist arrivals dropped to less than 900,000 as at end March this year, while its projected arrivals was at two million by June this year.

From 2015 to June 2018, Hezri served as a Member of the United Nations’ International Resource Panel (IRP), a UN Environment expert body that focuses on strategic issues of resource scarcity, efficiency and decoupling. He is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM), and currently holds visiting status as Honorary Associate Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University and Adjunct Professor at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). He was recently a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at Kyoto University, Japan.

–WE