The ambassadors included the ministry's former chief of staff Achmad Rizal Purnama, former spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah and I Gede Ngurah Swajaya, the coordinator for the office of the special envoy on Myanmar.

Responsible for over 75 engagements with Naypyidaw’s junta this year, Ngurah was an indispensable figure in Indonesia’s Myanmar strategy as ASEAN chair. Since 1999, he has been involved in numerous negotiations at the United Nations, and later in 2010 becoming Jakarta’s first envoy for ASEAN.

Ngurah was sworn in as ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein on Monday, while Rizal, a close aide-de-camp to Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, will represent Indonesia in Ankara as ambassador to Turkey and Faizasyah as ambassador to Norway and Iceland.

During his tenure as a spokesperson, Faizasyah played a crucial role in disseminating information from the ministry to the media, including when Indonesia assumed the role of presidency for the Group of 20 last year and subsequently the chairman for this year’s ASEAN.

Among those filling up some of Indonesia’s most crucial spots was Santo Darmosumarto, formerly the director for East Asian affairs, who was appointed to Cambodia, a hotspot for human trafficking scams involving hundreds of Indonesian victims since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ukraine, another geopolitical hotspot, will also see a new Indonesian ambassador Arief, who was appointed on Monday. Besides Ukraine, the career diplomat will also be accredited to Armenia and Georgia.

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