Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto on Friday swore in six new Indonesian ambassadors to various countries, including Nurmala Kartini Pandjaitan Sjahrir, who was appointed ambassador to Japan.

Nurmala is the younger sister of Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, chair of the National Economic Council and a former coordinating minister for investment under former president Joko Widodo.

While less publicly prominent than her brother, Nurmala is a well-known figure in her own right, with a long career spanning academia, politics, and diplomacy. She is a respected anthropologist who has served as chair of the Indonesian Anthropological Association and has taught at the postgraduate program of the University of Indonesia.

Outside academia, Nurmala, 75, has been active in politics. She previously led the New Indonesia Alliance Party, which was founded by her late husband, Sjahrir, a prominent economist and political activist.

The ambassadorship is not new territory for Nurmala. In 2010, she was appointed by then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as Indonesia’s ambassador to Argentina and Paraguay.

The full list of ambassadors sworn in by President Prabowo is as follows:

• Yusron Bahauddin Ambary — Algeria
• Okto Dorinus Manik — Papua New Guinea
• Gina Yoginda — North Korea
• Rediyanto Heru Nurcahyo — Slovakia
• Hari Prabowo — Thailand and concurrently the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP)
• Nurmala Kartini Pandjaitan — Japan

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