1.
President of the United Nations General Assembly
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The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly on a yearly basis. The President presides over the sessions of the General Assembly, Peter Thomson of Fiji has been elected as the United Nations General Assembly President of its 71st session beginning in September 2016. The election of Peter Thomson is a first for Fiji and the Pacific, the session of the assembly is scheduled for every year starting in September—any special, or emergency special, assemblies over the next year will be headed by the president of UNGA. The presidency rotates annually between the five groups, African, Asian, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean. In particular, it is customary that no permanent member of the United Nations Security Council ever serves as General Assembly president and this does not include special and emergency special sessions of the General Assembly. More news on UN elections and appointments
2.
Leslie Munro
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Sir Leslie Knox Munro KCMG KCVO was a New Zealand lawyer, journalist, and politician of international standing. Munro studied at Auckland Grammar School and the University of Auckland and he became dean of the law faculty at the University of Auckland in 1938, and taught and administrated at the university in a variety of roles until 1951. Munro was also president of the Auckland District Law Society from 1936 to 1938, Munro gave radio talks on world events for the New Zealand National Broadcasting Service, and wrote for the New Zealand Herald, where he was editor from 1942 to 1951. Munro was a member of the New Zealand National Party. In 1952 the new Prime Minister, Sidney Holland, appointed Munro the New Zealand ambassador to the United States, and the permanent representative of New Zealand to the United Nations. As New Zealands permanent representative to the UN, he served as president of the Trusteeship Council from 1953 to 1954 and he was also three times President of the Security Council, and was serving in that position at the outbreak of Suez Crisis in 1956. At the UN he was a critic of the Soviet response to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Munro was knighted in 1955 with a KCMG, followed by a KCVO in 1957 and he wrote the widely read United Nations, Hope for a divided world in 1960. For the academic year 1960–1961, he was a Fellow on the faculty in the Center for Advanced Study at Wesleyan University, Middletown, at the end of Munros appointment to Washington he had been replaced by a career diplomat. After the 1960 New Zealand election Munro expected the new National government to either reappoint him to Washington or to him the post of High Commissioner to London. His personal traits had however made him unpopular amongst the senior officials of the Prime Ministers Department, a recommendation was made to the new Prime Minister Keith Holyoake that Monro not be reappointed to an overseas diplomatic position. Munro returned to New Zealand and was elected as a National Party Member of Parliament, first for Waipa in 1963, Munro had proposed to stand for Tamaki in 1960 but only if he was unopposed for the party selection. Muldoon wanted to enter parliament so went for selection despite the request of the National Party president Alex McKenzie to stand aside, Muldoon won the selection, and won the seat from Bob Tizard. However, personal and professional antagonisms with two Prime Ministers Keith Holyoake then John Marshall prevented him from attaining high rank in those administrations, Holyoake usually kept him from speaking in caucus until the end of the debate, when the conclusion had been decided. Munro was married twice, and had a daughter from each marriage and his first marriage, to Christine Priestley, lasted for two years, as it was cut short by her death in 1929 three days after the birth of their daughter. Munros second marriage, to Muriel Sturt in 1931, was to last until his death in Hamilton in 1974, New Zealand and the Vietnam War, Politics and Diplomacy. Auckland, New Zealand, Auckland University Press, all Honourable Men, Inside the Muldoon Cabinet, 1975-1984. A film clip Longines Chronoscope with Knox Leslie Munro is available at the Internet Archive
3.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Thailand)
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the principal governmental department in charge of foreign relations in Thailand. The ministry is headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is also a member of the Cabinet of Thailand and he is appointed by the prime minister. The ministry is charged with formulating and executing foreign policies for the Kingdom of Thailand, the ministry manages and maintains Thai diplomatic missions around the globe. Kromma Tha and Phra Khlang redirect here Prior to the creation of the ministry, during the Kingdom of Ayutthaya foreign relations were handled by the Krom Phra Khlang. The head of the department was known as Phra Khlang and occasionally referred to as Berguelang or Barcelon by foreign authors, the famous 17th-century Siamese ambassador to France Kosa Pan was the younger brother of King Narais Phra Khlang Kosathibodi. Soon after, a sub-department called Kromma Tha was created to deal with foreigners, during the Bangkok Period most of these features were retained. In 1840, King Mongkut, the king, founded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Siam. The responsibilities and roles of the old Krom were shifted to this ministry, chao Phraya Bhanuwong became the first Foreign Minister of Siam in 1871, appointed by King Chulalongkorn. In 1881 Prince Devavongse Varoprakarn was appointed to replace him, known today as the father of Thai diplomacy he reorganized and modernized the ministry to meet 19th century standards. The ministry was then established at Saranrom Palace, east of the Grand Palace. Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, a legal scholar, served as Adviser-General from 1892 to 1902. Edward Strobel, a Harvard Law School Bemis Professor of International Law and he was followed by Harvard Law Professors Jens Westengard, Francis B. After the Revolution of 1932, the ministry came under civilian control, the first minister under this new system was Phraya Sri Visarn Vacha. See more at, Foreign relations of Thailand Most of the offices of the ministry were moved to a new building complex, Sri Ayutthaya Building,443 Sri Ayutthaya Rd. Ratchathewi. This building is on the premises of the Office of the South East Asia Treaty Organization
4.
Thanat Khoman
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Thanat Khoman was a Thai diplomat and politician. He was foreign minister from 1959 to 1971, chairman of the Democrat Party from 1979 to 1982 and he died at the age of 101 on 3 March 2016, a couple of months just shy of his 102nd birthday. Thanat was born in Bangkok and came from a Thai Chinese family and his father, Phraya Phiphaksa Satayathipatai was one of Siams first law school graduates and a judge who on the Supreme Court of Thailand. Thanat attended Assumption College in Bangkok, before he went to France, after his return to Thailand, Thanat was obliged to join the diplomatic service, as the foreign ministry had financed his studies. During World War II he was stationed as a secretary at the Thai embassy in Tokyo from 1941 to 1943. In February 1945, he was a member of a delegation to the Allied South East Asia Command in Kandy. After the Second World War, he held a number of posts, including chargé daffaires at the Thai embassies in Washington, D. C. In 1950 he was chosen as the chairman of the UN Economic Commission for Asia, from 1952 to 1957 he served as the deputy to the Permanent Representative from Thailand to the United Nations. In 1957 he was promoted to the post of the Ambassador of Thailand to the United States, on 10 February 1959 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand in the government of authoritarian Prime Minister Sarit Thanarat. His major contribution was in promoting regional reconciliation and cooperation in Southeast Asia and he was a participant in SEATO talks in 1961. In March 1962 he signed a joint communiqué with U. S. State Secretary Dean Rusk in which the U. S. promised Thailand support and defense against potential Communist aggression. Despite being only a protocol, it was celebrated in Thailand as a bilateral pact of the two countries, dubbed the Rusk-Thanat Agreement. In the 1960s Thanat played a key role in mediating between Indonesia and Malaysia, the choice of Bangkok as the founding place of ASEAN on 8 August 1967 was an expression of respect for his active role in the formation of this institution. On 17 November 1971 he resigned his post after a coup détat, after his resignation as foreign minister, Thanat entered national politics in 1979 and served as chairman of the Democrat Party until 1982. Between 1980 and 1982 he was deputy prime minister in the government of Prem Tinsulanonda. In 1982 he retired from political life and he celebrated his 100th birthday in 2014. His wife, Molee, is a granddaughter of Tan Kim Ching. Malaya, Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm
5.
Plaek Phibunsongkhram
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He was born Plaek Khittasangkha in Nonthaburi Province to Keed Khittasangkha and his wife. Keed was of Chinese-Thai heritage, his father was a Cantonese-speaking Chinese immigrant, plaeks parents owned a durian orchard. He received his given name - meaning strange in Thai - because of his appearance as a child. Plaek Khittasangkha studied at Buddhist temple schools, then was appointed to Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy and he graduated in 1914 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the artillery. Following World War I, he was sent to study tactics in France. In 1928, as he rose in rank, he received the title of Luang from King Prajadhipok. He would later drop his title, but adopted Phibunsongkhram as his surname, Phibunsongkhram was one of the leaders of the military branch of the Peoples Party that staged a coup détat and overthrew the absolute monarchy in 1932. Then-Lieutenant Colonel Phibunsongkhram rose to prominence as a man-on-horseback, the following year, Phibunsongkhram, along with officers allied in the same cause, successfully crushed the Boworadet Rebellion. This was a royalist revolt led by Prince Boworadet, while King Prajadhipok was not in any way involved in the rebellion, it marked the beginning of a slide which ended in his 1935 abdication and replacement by King Ananda Mahidol. The new King was still a child studying in Switzerland, and parliament appointed Colonel Prince Anuwatjaturong, Lieutenant Commander Prince Athitaya Dibhabha, Phibunsongkhram began to increase the pace of modernisation in Thailand. Together with Luang Wichitwathakan, the Minister of Propaganda, he built a cult in 1938. Photographs of Phibunsongkhram were to be everywhere, and those of the abdicated King Prajadhipok were banned. His quotes appeared in newspapers, were plastered on billboards and were repeated over the radio, aimed to uplift the national spirit and moral code of the nation and instilling progressive tendencies and a newness into Thai life, a series of Cultural Mandates were issued by the government. These mandates encouraged that all Thais were to salute the flag in public places, know the new national anthem, people were encouraged to adopt Western, as opposed to traditional, attire. Similarly, people were encouraged to eat with a fork and spoon, anti-Chinese policies were imposed, and the Thai people were to purchase as many Thai products as possible and therefore destroy the Chinese proportion in markets. In 1939, Phibunsongkhram changed the name from Siam to Thailand. In 1941, in the midst of World War II, he decreed 1 January as the start of the new year instead of the traditional 13 April. While ardently pro-Japanese at the beginning, Phibunsongkhram and his administration soon distanced themselves from Japan following the aftermath of the French-Thai War and this conflict lasted from October 1940 to May 1941
6.
Bangkok
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Bangkok is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep. The city occupies 1,568.7 square kilometres in the Chao Phraya River delta in Central Thailand, over 14 million people live within the surrounding Bangkok Metropolitan Region, making Bangkok an extreme primate city, significantly dwarfing Thailands other urban centres in terms of importance. Bangkok was at the heart of the modernization of Siam—later renamed Thailand—during the late 19th century, the city grew rapidly during the 1960s through the 1980s and now exerts a significant impact on Thailands politics, economy, education, media and modern society. The Asian investment boom in the 1980s and 1990s led many multinational corporations to locate their headquarters in Bangkok. The city is now a regional force in finance and business. It is a hub for transport and health care, and has emerged as a regional centre for the arts, fashion. The city is known for its vibrant street life and cultural landmarks. The historic Grand Palace and Buddhist temples including Wat Arun and Wat Pho stand in contrast with other tourist attractions such as the scenes of Khaosan Road. Bangkok is among the top tourist destinations. It is named the most visited city in MasterCards Global Destination Cities Index, Bangkoks rapid growth amidst little urban planning and regulation has resulted in a haphazard cityscape and inadequate infrastructure systems. The city has turned to public transport in an attempt to solve this major problem. Five rapid transit lines are now in operation, with more systems under construction or planned by the national government and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. The history of Bangkok dates at least back to the early 15th century, because of its strategic location near the mouth of the river, the town gradually increased in importance. Bangkok initially served as a customs outpost with forts on both sides of the river, and became the site of a siege in 1688 in which the French were expelled from Siam. After the fall of Ayutthaya to the Burmese Empire in 1767, the newly declared King Taksin established his capital at the town, in 1782, King Phutthayotfa Chulalok succeeded Taksin, moved the capital to the eastern banks Rattanakosin Island, thus founding the Rattanakosin Kingdom. The City Pillar was erected on 21 April, which is regarded as the date of foundation of the present city, Bangkoks economy gradually expanded through busy international trade, first with China, then with Western merchants returning in the early-to-mid 19th century. As the capital, Bangkok was the centre of Siams modernization as it faced pressure from Western powers in the late 19th century, Bangkok became the centre stage for power struggles between the military and political elite as the country abolished absolute monarchy in 1932
7.
Thailand
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Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam, is a country at the centre of the Indochinese peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total area of approximately 513,000 km2, Thailand is the worlds 51st-largest country and it is the 20th-most-populous country in the world, with around 66 million people. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and has switched between parliamentary democracy and military junta for decades, the latest coup being in May 2014 by the National Council for Peace and Order. Its capital and most populous city is Bangkok and its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest. The Thai economy is the worlds 20th largest by GDP at PPP and it became a newly industrialised country and a major exporter in the 1990s. Manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism are leading sectors of the economy and it is considered a middle power in the region and around the world. The country has always been called Mueang Thai by its citizens, by outsiders prior to 1949, it was usually known by the exonym Siam. The word Siam has been identified with the Sanskrit Śyāma, the names Shan and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word. The word Śyâma is possibly not its origin, but a learned, another theory is the name derives from Chinese, Ayutthaya emerged as a dominant centre in the late fourteenth century. The Chinese called this region Xian, which the Portuguese converted into Siam, the signature of King Mongkut reads SPPM Mongkut King of the Siamese, giving the name Siam official status until 24 June 1939 when it was changed to Thailand. Thailand was renamed Siam from 1945 to 11 May 1949, after which it reverted to Thailand. According to George Cœdès, the word Thai means free man in the Thai language, ratcha Anachak Thai means kingdom of Thailand or kingdom of Thai. Etymologically, its components are, ratcha, -ana- -chak, the Thai National Anthem, written by Luang Saranupraphan during the extremely patriotic 1930s, refers to the Thai nation as, prathet Thai. The first line of the anthem is, prathet thai ruam lueat nuea chat chuea thai, Thailand is the unity of Thai flesh. There is evidence of habitation in Thailand that has been dated at 40,000 years before the present. Similar to other regions in Southeast Asia, Thailand was heavily influenced by the culture and religions of India, Thailand in its earliest days was under the rule of the Khmer Empire, which had strong Hindu roots, and the influence among Thais remains even today. Voretzsch believes that Buddhism must have been flowing into Siam from India in the time of the Indian Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire, later Thailand was influenced by the south Indian Pallava dynasty and north Indian Gupta Empire. The Menam Basin was originally populated by the Mons, and the location of Dvaravati in the 7th century, the History of the Yuan mentions an embassy from the kingdom of Sukhothai in 1282
8.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
9.
Chakri dynasty
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The Chakri dynasty is the current ruling royal house of the Kingdom of Thailand, while the Head of the house is the monarch. The royal house was founded by King Rama I, an Ayutthayan military leader of Sino-Mon descent, prior to the founding of the dynasty, King Rama I held for years the title Chakri, the title of the civil chancellor. In founding the dynasty, King Rama I himself chose Chakri as the name for the dynasty, the emblem of the dynasty is composed of the discus and the trident, the celestial weapons of god Vishnu and Shiva, whom the Thai sovereign is seen as an incarnation. The houses current dynastic seat is the Grand Palace in Bangkok, the present royal family of Thailand is descended from Prince Mahidol Adulyadej of Songkla and Srinagarindra forming the House of Mahidol. The Prince was a son of King Chulalongkorn and his wife Queen Savang Vadhana, the Prince was also the half-brother of both King Vajiravudh and King Prajadhipok. After the death of King Ananda Mahidol, King Bhumibol Adulyadej ascended the throne in 1946, in 1949 the King married his first cousin once removed, Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara. Bhumibol was succeeded by his son Maha Vajiralongkorn officially on 13 October 2016, but was proclaimed King on 1 December 2016
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Major General[1]
Malaysia : Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (1964)[6]:1
