Ramanathan Vengadesan

Ramanathan Vengadesan (born June 25, 1945) is a retired Malaysian diplomat who 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.

He was part of Malaysia's delegation to the UN conference on ending the Cambodian conflict and led the country's delegation during the formation of the International Criminal Court. He was the fourth child of S. Ramanathan Iyer and S. Gomathi Iyer, members of Malaysia's small Brahmin community.

In his infancy his family moved back to India following the trauma of Japanese rule, but encountered poverty there. They moved back to Malaya only to find the country embroiled in the Communist emergency. He was also a delegate to the 1981 UN conference in New York to find a peaceful solution to the war in Cambodia that followed the fall of the Khmer Rouge.

Malaysian ambassador to Italy Ramanathan Vengadesan meeting Pope John Paul II in 1997.

Vengadesan was Malaysia's Ambassador to Italy from 1997 to 2000, and led Malaysia's delegation to a United Nations diplomatic conference on the establishing an International Criminal Court. He also represented Malaysia at the twentieth anniversary of the International Fund for Agricultural Development which worked to promote the economic advancement of the rural poor through projects and programs.

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

Retirement He was awarded the Kesatria Mangku Negara in 1986 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.

Family Married to Datin Christie Gonzales, he is the brother-in-law of former Olympic field hockey player Datuk Arumugam Sabapathy and academic Joseph Victor Gonzales. political science student Ekath Fidel and the late singer/songwriter I-Shan Esther of popular Malaysian band Faye Faire.

In June 2025, in conjunction with his 80th birthday, Vengadesan published his autobiography titled Triumphs & Tragedies: From Village Boy to Globe-trotting Ambassador.