20 ambassadors inaugurated
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)