Meet ASEAN leaders attending this year's Republic Day celebrations
India is going to witness something extraordinary this January 26, as the heads of ASEAN nation will be blessing the 69th Republic Day parade with their presence.This is the first time when the Republic Day celebrations will host 10 chief guests. These world leaders are from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Brunei.
Leaders of all 10 Asean countries have confirmed their participation as Guests of Honour at India's Republic Day celebrations to commemorate 25 years of New Delhi's close ties with the Southeast Asian bloc.
The worth of the ASEAN world leaders witnessing the event is that ASEAN completes 50 years of development and that India completes 25 years of its affiliation with the alliance.
The move seems to be the best step forward for India. In recent years we have had US president Barack Obama, UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and President François Hollande of France.
This year's parade will observe participants not just from the Indian Armed forces, Air Force, Navy, but also there will be 700 students across the guest nations who will be performing at the 69th Republic Day event. 113 women from the Border Security Force (BSF) will also present stunts on motorcycles.
Here is the brief introduction of ASEAN leaders attending Republic Day 2018
Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia
Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi, is the seventh and current President of Indonesia, in office since 2014. Previously he was Mayor of Surakarta from 2005 to 2012 and Governor of Jakarta from 2012 to 2014. He is the first Indonesian president without a high-ranking political or military background.
Born in 1961 in Solo, a city in the centre of Java, Widodo is the son of a wood-seller.
The furniture-maker began his political career with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) when he was elected mayor of Solo in 2005.
He was elected on a wave of support, particularly from the youth, for his promise of change and reputation as a clean politician. Though he remains popular, criticism of his administration has mounted following recent policy stumbles and slower economic growth.
Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore
Lee Hsien Loong, the third can current Prime Minister of Singapore has been in office since 2004. Lee was born and raised in Singapore, the son of Lee Kuan Yew, the city-state's first prime minister (1959-90).
Lee was born in Singapore on Feb. 10, 1952. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, and earned a Master of Public Administration at Harvard University.
Lee
joined
the
Singapore
Armed
Forces
in
1971
and
served
as
an
officer
from
1974
to
1984,
becoming
the
youngest
brigadier-general
in
Singaporean
history.
After
being
elected
as
Member
of
Parliament
in
1984,
Lee
successively
held
posts
of
defense
minister,
chairman
of
the
government's
economic
committee
and
minister
of
trade
and
industry,
concurrently
appointed
as
second
minister
for
defense,
chairman
of
the
Monetary
Authority
of
Singapore
and
minister
for
finance.
Lee served as Singapore's deputy prime minister in 1990 and was appointed as prime minister in August 2004. He was consecutively re-elected in 2006, 2011 and 2015.
Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of Vietnam
Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of Vietnam and member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam. He is the 6th ranked member of the 12th Politburo. As a tradition in Vietnamese politics, Phúc is also a full member of the National Assembly, serving at its 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th terms.
Haji Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia
Dato Sri Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia was sworn into office in 2009. Najib is the eldest son of Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysia's second Prime Minister, and the nephew of Hussein Onn, Malaysia's third Prime Minister. He was elected to the Parliament of Malaysia in 1976, at the age of 23, replacing his deceased father in the Pahang-based seat of Pekan.
Razak was then the nation's youngest Member of Parliament. He has held various cabinet posts including Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Energy, Telecommunications & Posts, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance. H.E. bin Tun Hj Abdul Razak also headed several ministries as Minister at the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sports, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Education.
Aung San Suu Kyi, state counsellor of Myanmar
Aung San Suu Kyi is the state counsellor of Myanmar and winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize for Peace.
Born in Yangon, Myanmar, in 1945, Aung San Suu Kyi spent much of her early adult years abroad before returning home and becoming an activist against the brutal rule of dictator U Ne Win. She was placed under house arrest in 1989 and spent 15 of the next 21 years in custody, winning the 1991 Nobel Prize for Peace along the way. Suu Kyi was finally released from house arrest in November 2010 and subsequently held a seat in parliament for the National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Following the NLD's victory in 2016 parliamentary elections, Suu Kyi became the de facto head of the country in the new role of state counsellor.
Rodrigo Duterte, President of Philippines
Rodrigo Duterte is the President of Philippines, who took office in 2016. The 71-year-old is the oldest in his country to assume presidency.
At 71 years old, Duterte is the oldest person to assume the Philippine presidency; the record was previously held by Sergio Osmeña at the age of 65.
Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan of Brunei
Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan of Brunei is also the first and current Prime Minister of Brunei. He acceded to the throne after the abdicatrion of his father Omar Ali Saifuddien III.
The eldest son of Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III and Raja Isteri (Queen) Pengiran Anak Damit, he succeeded to the throne as the Sultan of Brunei, following the abdication of his father on 5 October 1967.
The Sultan has been ranked among the wealthiest individuals in the world; Forbes estimated the Sultan's total peak net worth at US$20 billion in 2008.
General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Thailand
General Prayut Chan-o-cha, a retired Royal Thai Army officer and current Prime Minister of Thailand, heads Thailand's military junta.
Prayut is a former Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Army, the post he held from October 2010 to October 2014. After his appointment as army chief, Prayut was characterised as a strong royalist and an opponent of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Considered a hardliner within the military, he was one of the leading proponents of military crackdowns on the Red Shirt demonstrations of April 2009 and April-May 2010. He later sought to moderate his profile, talking to relatives of protesters who were killed in the bloody conflict and co-operating with the government of Shinawatra who won parliamentary election in July 2011. He came to power after a military coup in 2014.
Thongloun Sisoulith, Prime Minister of Laos
Thongloun Sisoulith, born 10 November 1945) is a Laotian politician who has been Prime Minister of Laos since 2016. Previously he was Deputy Prime Minister from 2001 to 2016, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairsfrom 2006 to 2016. He is a politburo member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, ranking fourth.
He was chosen to become Prime Minister of Laos at the 10th Party Congress on 23 January 2016.
Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia
Cambodia's Hun Sen has been in power since 1985 and is one of the world's longest-serving prime ministers.
He is credited with helping achieve economic growth after the devastation caused by the Khmer Rouge regime, responsible for one of the worst mass killings of the 20th century.
But the prime minister, 60, is also seen as an authoritarian figure with a poor human rights record and the resources to thwart any real political challenge.
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