20 ambassadors inaugurated

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto inaugurated 20 ambassadors Wednesday, including former Armed Forces chief of sociopolitical affairs Lt. Gen. Mohammad Ma'ruf as ambassador to Vietnam and Makarim Wibisono as Indonesia's permanent representative to the United Nations in New York.

Of the 20 new ambassadors, only three hailed from the military. The other two being former chief of the Army's special forces Lt. Gen. (ret.) Kuntara who became ambassador to China, and Brig. Gen. Benny Mandalika who became ambassador to Papua New Guinea. Mandalika was once defense attache to the Indonesian embassy in Washington.

Most of the civilian ambassadors are senior career diplomats who have held top positions in the foreign ministry.

Former director general of political affairs Izhar Ibrahim became ambassador to Germany. Former director general for the ASEAN National Secretariat Rahardjo Jamtomo became ambassador to Great Britain, replacing Junus E. Habibie who is the brother of State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie.

Former director for international organizations N. Hassan Wirayuda became ambassador to Egypt, former director for European affairs Imron Hardjito became ambassador to Morocco while the former director of Asia-Pacific affairs, Tjahjono, became ambassador to Russia.

Besides Brig. Gen. Mandalika, two other new ambassadors had held senior posts in the United States. The former consul general to New York, Isnaedi, became ambassador to Tunisia while the former deputy head of the embassy in Washington Budiman Darmosutanto has gone further north by becoming ambassador to Canada.

Two senior female diplomats, Mrs. Tjahyani Sukadi and Mrs. Titiek S. Rustaman, became the ambassadors to Rumania and New Zealand respectively. Tjahyani had headed the secretariat at the directorate general for sociocultural relations and foreign information, while Titiek had headed the social and cultural bureau at the ASEAN National Secretariat.

Other foreign ministry officials inaugurated were Soetanto Soemardjo as ambassador to Bangladesh, Sjaiful Amanullah as ambassador to Zimbabwe, Gde Arsa Kadjar as ambassador to Ukraine and Soendaroe Rachmad as ambassador to Italy

Three other ambassadors hailed from outside the military or foreign ministry: Legislator Mrs. Tati Sumiyati Darsoyo became ambassador to Switzerland, Zarkowi Soejoeti became ambassador to Saudi Arabia and I Gusti Ngurah Ketut Sumantera became ambassador to Luxembourg. (mds)