17 SEPTEMBER 2007

17 SEPTEMBER 1957 MARSHAL SARIT THANARAT SIZES POWER IN THAILAND

This day, the Field Marshal Sarit, from Lao origin, overthrew the more and more unpopular Marshal Pibun Songkhram who is obliged to go on exil.

Sarit deputy, Thanon Kittikachorn, took the charge of Prime Minister for a while Sarit went to the US for medical reasons.

When he came back, he decided of a “Revolution”. On 20 October 1958, he declared martial law and on 9 February 1959, he took for himself the Prime Minister position that he keep up to his death in 1962.

He is credited of having improved the status of the king and the Thai economy situation, but his new regime was the most repressive and authoritarian in Thai history. He abrogated the constitution and dissolved the parliament.

OTHERS FACTS

1894 : Battle of Yalu River, the largest naval engagement in the first Sino-Japan war

1900 : Battle of Mabitac. Filipino fighters outmaneuver and rout Americain forces on Luzon

1935 : Manuel L. Quezon elected first President of the Commonwealth of the Philipines

1959 : Lin Piao become Defence Minister, replacing Peng Dehuai

1977 : Ali Bhutto, the Pakistan Prime Minister is arrested and accused of crime by general Zia-ul Haq who had overthrow him

1980 : Kim Dae-jung, leader of the South Korea opposition is condamned to death by a Martial Court.

1991 : South Korea and North Korea become members of the United Nations

1995 : Hong Kong last election under British rule

1999 : President Bill Clinton lifts restrictions on trade, travel and banking imposed on North Korea a half-century earlier

2001 : World Trade Organisation votes for China enter

2002 : Junichiro Koizumi is the first Japanese Prime Minister to visit North Korea

BIRTH :

1973 : Ada Choi, Hong Kong actress
<br><br>Post edited by: Jacques, at: 2007/09/17 18:43