Mangasi Sihombing

Mangasi Sihombing (born 22 July 1947) is an Indonesian diplomat who served as the ambassador to Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Macedonia from 2006 to 2010. Prior to his ambassadorship, Mangasi was the director general of information, public diplomacy, and international treaties from 2002 to 2006 and the deputy chief of mission of the embassy in Canberra from 2000 to 2002.

Early life and education Mangasi was born on 22 July 1947 in Lintong Nihuta, a small village in Humbang Hasundutan, North Sumatra. Mangasi was raised in a customary community where ancient traditions and "adat" customary laws remained influential. His family background was marked by a blend of these traditional customs and their conversion to Christianity; notably, his family maintained a rare piece of Herend porcelain for over a century, which served as a significant heirloom and a symbol of their heritage. The porcelain was initially buried with his great-grandfather, but his father recovered the porcelain with the approval from other family members shortly after his grandfather was reburied in 1959. He later chronicled the story in his autobiography titled From Indonesian Batak Ulos to Hungarian Porcelan and Tears of a Boy, published in 2008.

Mangasi attended the people's school (equivalent to elementary school) in Lintong Nihuta from 1954 to 1960 before continuing his education at a Catholic middle school from 1960 to 1963. His family then moved to Gunungsitoli, the capital of Nias, and he completed his high school at the only state high school operating in the city from 1963 to 1966. He began attending the Jakarta 17 August 1945 University in 1967 and received his bachelor's degree in political sciences in 1972

Diplomatic career Mangasi's diplomatic service began in January 1970. He worked as an ordinary staff for four years until he was promoted as the head of a subsection in 1974. Between 1976 and 1977 he undertook basic diplomatic course. Mangasi's temporary leadership of the embassy ends following the arrival of the new ambassador, Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, sometime in May that year.

Director general In light of organizational restructuring within the foreign ministry, both Mangasi and his superior, Sudjanan, were recalled to Jakarta to take up new posts. Mangasi was appointed to lead the directorate general of information, public diplomacy, and foreign treaties on 3 May 2002. The agency was a merger of the old directorate general of foreign information and socio-cultural relations and the directorate of international treaties. He exercised authority over five operational directorates: information and media, public diplomacy, diplomatic security, political, security and territorial treaties, and economic, social, and cultural treaties.

Ambassador Mangasi became Indonesia's ambassador to Hungary, with concurrent accreditation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Macedonia on 18 October 2006. He presented his credentials to president László Sólyom of Hungary on 2 February 2007, president Stjepan Mesić of Croatia on 9 February 2007, chairman of presidency Nebojša Radmanović on 26 February 2007, and president Branko Crvenkovski of Macedonia on 13 March 2007. Mangasi's ambassadorial tenure ended in September 2010.

As ambassador, Mangasi worked to promote Indonesia through cultural diplomacy, with him personally contributing to the publication of Indonesian translations of works by Janus Pannonius and a collection of one hundred Hungarian poems. He was recognized for having translated 33 poems by Bálint Balassi to Indonesian, which was published in 2013. He also supported the staging of Hungarian dramas by authors such as Madách and Örkény in Indonesia. Through these initiatives, he aimed to increase international interest in Indonesian culture, specifically focusing on the promotion of the Indonesian language, traditional dances, and batik. and a mutual support commitment from the Croatian government in various international forums in 2008.

He also put himself as a representation of an Evangelical Christian in order to emphasize Indonesia's inclusive and tolerant nature despite its status as the world's most populous Islamic country. Mangasi was introduced by the party to the public on 21 August 2018. He established Solidarity of the Children of the Indonesian Nation (Saba, Solidaritas Anak Bangsa Indonesia) as his support base and promised to hold raffle for a chance for the volunteers to receive scholarships and Umrah pilgrimage tickets if he was to be elected as a parliament member. and on 28 October 2020 established the Peaceful Indonesia Party alongside other prominent Christian figures. He joined the Nusantara Awakening Party and ran as a candidate for the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives in the 2024 election, but was unsuccessful.

Outside politics, Mangasi is active in literary circles. He is the chief advisor of the Indonesian Literary Translation Foundation and an advisor for the Association of Indonesian Literature Writers Association