US Ambassador-Designate Kamala Lakhdhir Arrives Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 (Bernama) -- United States ambassador-designate to Malaysia, Kamala Lakhdhir has arrived in the country and assumed her position. This was confirmed in a statement issued by the United States embassy in the Malaysian capital today. Kamala Lakhdhir replaces Joseph Y. Yun. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Lakhdhir received her Master's degree from the National War College in 2007, said the US embassy website. She was the executive assistant to Under Secretary for Political Affairs from November 2011 until October 2015. The ambassador-designate was the US consul-general in Belfast, Northern Ireland from 2009 until November 2011. From 2007 to 2009, she was the director of the Office of Maritime Southeast Asia in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, which is responsible for US relations with the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam and Timor-Leste. She had also served at the US embassies in Riyadh and Jakarta. --BERNAMA