UCLA Center East Asian
Studies
Today in Asian History
May 21
1961 In South Korea, the military junta under Lt. General CHANG Do-yung announced it had established a cabinet.
1965 Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai spoke on China's nuclear weapons development program to the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission. China had recently conducted its second successful test of a nuclear bomb, this time dropping one from an airplane.
"At present, the Soviet Union is also deliberately underestimating us. In reality, it is afraid of us. At the moment, the United States is afraid of us and so is Britain. France also feels that it is lagging behind."
The Cold War International History Project website offers a translation of this speech where Zhou explains why China must continue developing its nuclear weapons and how most "nationalist" (as opposed to "imperialist") countries are encouraged by China's nuclear weapons development successes. Zhu Mingquan, of Fudan University (Shanghai), has written an article for the The Nonproliferation Review tracing the history of China's non-proliferation policy.
1989 One million people in Hong Kong, roughly one-sixth of the population, joined a demonstration in support of the pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing and elsewhere in China.
1991 Rajiv Gandhi, former Indian Prime Minister, was assassinated in a suicide bomb attack in Tamil Nadu. Dhanu, a woman, detonated the bomb, killing herself, Gandhi, and 16 others. Gandhi (b. 1944) had served as prime minister 1984-1989 and was leading his Congress Party's campaign and hoped to regain the prime ministership. Tamil separatists were angered in 1987 when PM Gandhi sent Indian troops to Sri Lanka to quell the Tamil rebellion there. Unpopular with both the Tamil and the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka, the Indian forces were withdrawn in 1990 -- after Gandhi had been defeated at the polls.
Gandhi had assumed the prime ministership following the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi. His grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was India's first prime minister, serving from 1947 until his death in 1964.
In 1998, 26 individuals convicted of conspiring to carry out the assassination were sentenced to death. India's supreme court, however, acquitted 19 of these people, commuted the death sentences of three, and confirmed the death sentences of four.
The news magazine India Today includes Rajiv Gandhi among its 100 Who Shaped India. The Encyclopedia Britannica offers an extensive description of Gandhi's life and assessment of his work.
1998 After 31 years as Indonesia's president, Suharto resigned his office. Suharto's resignation followed a several months of unrest that grew increasingly intense. Indonesia was a Dutch colony when Suharto was born in 1921 and he joined the colonial army. Suharto initially welcomed the 1942 Japanese invasion of Indonesia and served the occupation in the home defense forces. Following the defeat of Japan, he joined the armed struggle for Indonesia's independence.
Suharto continued to serve in the military after the achievement of independence and rose to the rank of general. In 1965 he assumed a leading role in suppressing an attempt to decapitate the military through the assassination of top officers. By March 1966, Suharto controlled the country, though he would not formally remove and replace Sukarno, Indonesia's founding president, until 1967. (After his resignation, Time magazine offered an account of his "bloody rise.")
Suharto used Indonesia's oil wealth to strengthen the nation's infrastructure and to extend education and other services to a greater portion of the population. His anticommunism appealed to Western political, military, and business leaders and investment followed. Though he regularly stood for election, Suharto was an authoritarian ruler and Indonesian civil liberties were severely constrained. Suharto rewarded his family and friends. Widespread awareness of this made him a target when the 1997 Asian financial crisis ended the consistent economic growth that prompted Indonesians to tolerate the regime's endemic corruption. He was replaced as president by B.J. Habibie, his vice-president.
Here are select resources on Suharto and Indonesia.
- Indonesian constitution
- Republic of Indonesia Government website
- CIA Factbook on Indonesia
- In 1996 and 1997 AsiaWeek magazine ranked Suharto as one of the most powerful individuals in Asia.
- CNN reported the resignation and offered analysis.
- Amnesty Internation 1999 report on Indonesia
The AI "Today in Asian History" page was compiled by Clayton Dube. He welcomes your comments and suggestions. Send them to <cdube@isop.ucla.edu>.
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