Mr Rasheed was a Member of Parliament (from 1997-2011) and served as the Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Singapore, a position he held since 2006. Prior to serving in government service, Mr Zainul had an illustrious career in journalism which included the positions of Editor of Berita Harian, The Singapore Business, The Sunday Times and Associate Editor of The Straits Times. Mr Zainul recently completed serving as the Ambassador to Kuwait (Non-Resident), a position he held for 13 years since 2011. He was formerly the Foreign Minister's Special Envoy to the Middle East. Mr Zainul also used to serve as a Corporate Adviser to Singapore's Temasek International Pte Ltd and is now a member of the Temasek Foundation Cohesion & Resilience Executive Board. Mr Zainul also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Mediacorp. He currently serves as a member of the Nanyang Technological University Board of Trustees.