Draft:Ramanathan Vengadesan

Ramanathan Vengadesan is a retired Malaysian diplomat who most notably was Malaysia's Ambassador to Italy from 1997 to 2000.

In 35 years with the Malaysian Foreign Service, he also served as Ambassador to Mali and Senegal, as well as High Commissioner to Namibia.

Born on June 25, 1945, in Banting, Selangor, he is the fourth child of S. Ramanathan Iyer and S. Gomathi Iyer. The couple were members of Malaysia's small Brahmin community.

He was educated at Victoria Institution and studied English at the University of Malaya.

After a year in Telecoms, he joined the Foreign Ministry in 1969. He was awarded a citation for bravery by the Malaysian government for bringing aid to stricken areas after the deadly 13 May incident.

Vengadesan served as a junior officer in the USSR (1972 to 1974), Japan (1974 to 1977) and Laos (1977-1979).



He was also the deputy ambassador in Brussels (1983 to 1988) and Bangkok (1988 to 1990) before taking on his first ambassadorial role in Bamako, Mali.

While in Mali, protestors threatened to burn down the ambassador's residence which belonged to an associate of dictator Moussa Traore. He responded by flying the Malaysian flag and calling on the Malian Foreign Ministry to provide soldiers to guard the residence during this period.

Vengadesan then shifted the West African base to Dakar, Senegal, becoming Malaysia's first resident ambassador there. In addition, he served in the Ministry as Undersecretary for the Americas from 1993 to 1997.



He was Malaysia's Ambassador to Italy from 1997 to 2000. During that time he led Malaysia’s delegation to a United Nations diplomatic conference on the establishing an International Criminal Court.

He subsequently served as High Commissioner to Namibia from 2000 to 2004.

He was awarded the Kesatria Mangku Negara in 1985 and the Dato’ Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah (DSSA) in 1999, giving him the title of Datuk.

After his retirement from the Foreign Ministry, he was Governor for Malaysia to the Asia-Europe Foundation. Vengadesan was also elected vice-chairman of the Asia-Europe Foundation at its 26th Board of Governors meeting in Luang Prabang in 2010.

Married to Christie Gonzales, he is the brother-in-law of former Olympic field hockey player Arumugam Sabapathy and academic Joseph Victor Gonzales.

He is the father of three children, including Malaysiakini associate editor Martin Vengadesan, and grandfather to six.