Nurmala Kartini Sjahrir

Nurmala Kartini Sjahrir (born Kartini Boru Pandjaitan, February 1, 1950) is an Indonesian anthropologist and diplomat who has served as Indonesian ambassador to Japan since December 2025. She also served as the Indonesian ambassador to Argentina, accredited to Paraguay and Uruguay from 2010 to 2014. She also served as the Indonesian representative to the advisory board of ASEAN-IPR as well as a former chairwoman of Asosiasi Antropologi Indonesia (Association of Indonesian Anthropology), abbreviated as AAI.

Personal life Early life Kartini was born in a small hamlet of the Simargala Huta Namora, Silaen District of Toba Regency, North Sumatra, not far from Lake Toba. Her parents, Bonar Panjaitan and Farida Naiborhu were a conservative Toba Batak. They had five children, including Kartini the eldest amongst three daughters,

Marriage On December 8, 1979, Kartini was married to Dr Sjahrir, one of central figures behind Malari incident. As Kartini is a Christian and her husband was a Muslim, they performed their marriage in front of pendeta (Christian priest) as well as a penghulu (Muslim chieftain). They have two children, Pandu Patria Sjahrir and Gita Rusminda Sjahrir.

Education She is an alumnus of famous Catholic boarding school (Indonesian: sekolah asrama) in Central Jakarta, St. Ursula Catholic School. ), one of University of Indonesia's most popular student organization that focused on adventure, mountaineering, and expedition. In 1975, a year before she graduated, Kartini was chosen as the organization's chairwoman.

She received a master's and doctoral degree from the graduate school of Boston University, respectively in 1981 and 1990.

Career Graduated from one of the most prestigious university in Indonesia, majoring anthropology, Kartini started her professional career as an assistant for Dr Melly Tan, one of senior researcher at LEKNAS (Lembaga Ekonomi dan Kemasyarakatan Nasional; National Institute of Economics and Society).

Kartini was among the distinguished speakers of UN Human Rights Council Session 23 – Panel in Geneva, June 3, 2013, delivering talk about supporting gender politics in harmony on the prevention of domestic violence. On 22 September 2016, Indonesia participated in the International Conference on Sustainable Development (IC-SD) at Columbia University in New York. Kartini chaired the Indonesia Panel, held at the Faculty House of Columbia University.

Since 2019 Kartini is an independent commissioner, board member of PT Siloam Intl Hospita Tbk.

Awards