On December 31

On this day in ...
... 1964 (45 years ago today), Indonesian President Sukarno, who in 1945 had led his country to independence from Dutch colonialism (prior post), declared that if Malaysia were to assume a seat on the Security Council, Indonesia would leave the United Nations, just as it had boycotted the Tokyo Olympic Games earlier in the year. According to The New York Times, The source of Sukarno's complaint was the 1963 formation of the Malaysian federation (prior post):

The Indonesian leader charged that Malaysia was formed from the former British territories of Malaya, Singapore, and the Borneo states of Sarawak and Sabah (North Borneo) against the will of the people in order to maintain British influence in Southeast Asia.

Months later Sukarno made good on the threat and withdrew his country from the United Nations; Indonesia did not rejoin until 1966.

(Prior December 31 posts are here and here.)

On December 5, ...

... 1922 (85 years ago today), by appointment of President Warren G. Harding, Lucile Atcherson became the 1st woman U.S. diplomat when she was appointed a secretary in what was then called the Diplomatic Service (today, the Foreign Service). Atcherson (right), who'd received the 3d-highest score on the Service exam, served in France, Haiti, and Switzerland; in 1925, she was assigned as 3d Secretary of the Legation in Berne, capital of the last country. The Ohio native resigned the Service upon marrying in 1927.
... 1957 (50 years ago today), less than a week after escaping a grenade attack and announcing the nationalization of Dutch-owned industries, Indonesian leader Sukarno ordered the expulsion of the 46,000 Dutch citizens remaining in the country, which had been a Dutch colony for 350 years.