YM Dato’ Seri Tengku Zainal Adlin

Vice President, Emeritus
WWF-Malaysia &
Chairman, Sabah Tourism

Tengku Adlin (as he is better known) is a pilot by professional  training, with a short flying career in the late fifties and early sixties before embarking on a career in the public service i.e Kelantan Civil Service and the Malaysian Home and Diplomatic Service, the Sabah State Housing Commission, Sabah Foundation and Sabah Tourism Board.

He studied public administration at Birmingham University, England and at the School of Local Government Studies, Sigtuna University, Sweden, and at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Top Management Programme.

He had served the Government for 40 years in various capacities as Assistant District Officer (1962-1964) and Assistant State Secretary Kelantan (1965-1967), Chief Executive Officer of the newly created Sabah State Housing Commission (1968-1973) on secondment from the Home and Diplomatic Service, the Sabah Foundation Group Projects Development Manager (1974-1979), Deputy Director/Group Deputy Managing Director [Chief Operation Officer] (1980-1996) and Corporate Adviser Sabah Foundation (1997), and was directly responsible for the institutional and capacity building of these newly created statutory bodies.

The Sabah State Government appointed him Chairman Sabah Tourism Board (2000-to date). In pursuance of the government policy and working hand in hand with the key players in the tourism industry at international, national, state and district levels the tourism development growth has been double digit over 20% per annum compound, and over 40% repeat visitors in the last eight years. The tourism receipts of over RM4 billion in 2008 contributed to over 14% of the Sabah GDP.

Tengku Adlin is active in sports and voluntary organizations. He is the author of numerous books and publications on nature and adventure as he led or participated in many expeditions (since 1969) to unexplored or lesser known interiors of Sabah.

He was conferred Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (1985), the Langkawi Award  (1999) by the Yang Dipertuan Agong (King of Malaysia) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Duke of Edingburgh Conservation  Medal at Buckingham Palace (1999). He was conferred a ‘Datukship’ by the Sabah Head of State in 1975 and in 1985 by the Sultan of Kelantan and Seri Paduka Mahkota Perak by  the Sultan of Perak.

Tengku Adlin was born in Kota Bharu Kelantan in 1940, is married, has three daughters and a son, and has lived in Sabah for the past 40 years as a grateful son, though adopted.