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Wednesday October 20,1999__.Page 2
Habibie withdraws candidacy
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -
Indonesia’s president withdrew as a
presidential candidate Wednesday
(Tuesday CDT), local television news
reported, hours after lawmakers
rejected a speech in which he defend
ed his 16 months in office.
In a session that dragged from
Tuesday into the early hours of
Wednesday morning, the 700-mem
ber People’s Consultative Assembly
also voted to recognize East Timor’s
vote for independence, paving the
way for the half-island territory to
become the world’s newest nation.
SCTV television’s report of
President B.J. Habibie’s decision not
to seek re-election came a few hours
before Indonesia’s legislature con
vened to elect a new head of state.
Amien Rais, the speaker of the
assembly, told SCTV that Habibie
made the decision after meeting at his
home early Wednesday with top
politicians and that he would
announce his decision to the nation
before parliament reconvened later
Wednesday for the election.
Shortly after midnight Tuesday,
the legislature rejected in a close vote
Habibie’s recent “accountability”
speech about the successes and fail
ures of his administration.
Although that did not exclude him
from the election, many people
expected that his party would have no
choice but to seek a replacement can
didate.
After the legislature’s votes, sup
porters of Habibie’s rival for die pres
idency, Megawati Sukarnoputri,
marched jubilandy through the streets
of the capital, Jakarta.
Some members of the assembly
cheered as the 355-322 vote rejecting
Habibie’s speech was announced.
Habibie had been appointed to
take over the presidency when his
mentor, Suharto, stepped down last
year in the face of violent protests
against his rule.
Habibie’s government imple
mented democratic reforms but has
been plagued by economic hardship,
scandals, protests and violence in
some separatist sections of the coun
try.
The assembly’s decision to recog
nize former Portuguese colony’s Aug.
30 vote for independence after 24
p
It is also an important step forward in
Indonesia s own democratic transformation”
President Clinton
years of Indonesian rule brought
some closure for East Timor’s
850,000 people.
The territory’s overwhelming vote
to break free of Indonesia led to a
wave of killing, looting and arson by
pro-Indonesian militias and their
Indonesian military allies that contin
ued until the deployment of an
Australian-led multinational peace
keeping force.
The official handover of East
Timor to a U.N. transitional team is
expected by the end of the year.
In Washington, the Clinton
administration welcomed the inde
pendence decision and said the
United States is closely watching the
vote for a new president.
“The assembly’s unequivocal
action shows respect for the will of
the people of East Timor,” President
Clinton said in a statement.
“It is also an important step for
ward in Indonesia’s own democratic
transformation.”
Clinton called on the United
Nations to establish a transition
administration in East Timor and
urged Indonesia to ensure the safe
return of displaced East Timorese. He
said the United States will help East
Timor obtain legal recognition of
independence and develop the neces
sary government institutions.
Habibie’s withdrawal strength
ened the presidential hopes of
Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia’s
founding leader, Sukarno.
Megawati’s party won the most
-though not a majority - of the votes
in June 7 parliamentaiy elections.
Ex-Pakistan leader
in protective custody
■ Council that will rule
- the country will be named
soon, official says.'
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -
Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif will stay in “protective cus
tody” while the military investigates
corrupt practices after taking over
Pakistan’s government a week ago, a
military spokesman said Tuesday.
Although where the former
prime minister is being held is not
known, Brig. Rashid Quereshi said
he is in good health.
“No one has been ill-treated at
all,” he said.
He also said it will likely be
another week before Army Chief
Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf announces
the six-member National Security
Council of army officers and civil
ians who will govern the country.
“L would guess it would not take
more than one week,” before the new
military-led government is known,
he said.
“Each decision that is taken is
going to be well-deliberated, well
studied, because if that amount of
effort doesn’t go into the initial
stages, it is likely to go wrong.”
However, Quereshi said an
investigation has already begun into
the circumstances surrounding the
Oct. 12 drama at Karachi Airport,
when the aircraft returning
Musharraf to Pakistan from Sri
Lanka was not allowed to land.
The army takeover had begun
when the aircraft carrying die army
chief was denied landing rights,
apparently on die orders of Sharif. It
was kept in the air circling the coun
try’s largest city, using up fuel until
the army gained control of the
Karachi airport and allowed the
plane, carrying Musharraf and 200
passengers, to land with 10 minutes
of fuel remaining.
Musharraf earlier accused Sharif
of endangering the lives of all the
passengers on board. Some within
the army have said it was an attempt
to kill the army chief.
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«
Filibuster halts
ban on ‘soft money
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Legislation to overhaul the nation’s
campaign finance laws fell to a
Republican filibuster for the fourth
straight year on Tuesday, despite con
cessions by supporters designed to
build fresh momentum for die measure.
“We will persevere,” vowed Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz., whose call to
reduce die role of money in campaigns
is a cornerstone of his bid for the GOP
presidential nomination.
“The Senate did the country a
favor” by keeping the bill bottled up,
countered Sen. Mitch McConnell, R
Ky., who contends the measure’s ban on
unlimited “soft money” contributions
would violate the constitution’s free
speech protections.
Soft money contributions are
unlimited donationsthat unions, corpo
rations and some individuals give to the
Republican and Democratic parties.
The bill’s fate was sealed when the
Senate twice fell short of the 60-vote
majority needed to overcome die fili
buster. All 45 Senate Democrats sup
ported both efforts to free the measure,
joined by a shifting group of
Republicans.
Moments after the second vote,
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott
sought to remove the bill from Senate
debate.
“It’s dead for the year,” the
Mississippi Republican later told
reporters.
Democrats objected to Lott’s deci
sion to terminate debate on the bill, and
McCain said he would look for oppor
tunities in unrelated legislation to
demand a vote on a soft money ban
before year’s end.
“Once again, a minority in the
Senate has blocked bipartisan cam
paign finance reform,” President
Clinton said in a written statement.
He said the Senate’s action was “a
victory for the politics of cynicism, and
it leaves unchecked the influence of
moneyed special interests.” Filibusters
killed campaign finance legislation in
1996,1997 and last year.
Republicans customarily raise
more campaign funds than Democrats.
The day’s first vote, 52-48, came on
legislation patterned after a bill the
Once again, a
minority in the
Senate has blocked
bipartisan campaign
finance reform ”
President Clinton
House approved earlier this year.
The second vote, 53-47, came on a
slimmed-down bill that McCain and
Feingold decided to push this year in an
attempt to thwart McConnell’s annual
filibuster.
That bill would have banned soft
money and would have allowed
nonunion members to stop labor
unions from spending their mandatory
dues on political activities.
But it had been stripped of one key
element of last year’s bill: a provision to
restrict so-called “issue ads,” thinly
veiled attacks on candidates paid for
with soft money.
Lott’s decision prompted a sharp
attack from Senate Minority Leader
Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who argued that
majority Republicans had not followed
through on commitments related to the
bill.
McCain and Feingold decided in
advance of debate to offer a slimmed
down bill in hopes they could surmount
the threatened filibuster.
They also hoped they had won
Lott’s agreement to permit a traditional
style of debate in which amendments
were debated and voted on.
That way, they said, Republicans
who previously have opposed the mea
sure might be brought on board if their
own provisions won approval.
That strategy quickly started to
unravel, though.
Opponents of the measure con
sumed considerable time by demand
ing that McCain name the names of
senators corrupted by soft money, as
his campaign Web site appeared to
claim.
police arrest
micgcu airplane hijacker
HAMBURG, Germany (AP) -
German police arrested the alleged
hijacker of an EgyptAir flight after he
forced it to land Tuesday in Hamburg.
Fifty-five others aboani were freed
four hours after the plane was com
mandeered over Turkey.
a man armed with a kmte seized
control of Flight 838 shortly after it
took off from Istanbul’s Ataturk air
port at 6:16 p jn. (10:16 a.m. CDT) en
route to Cairo, authorities said.
In Hamburg, authorities persuad
ed the suspect to leave the plane by
agreeing to review his request for
asylum. Hamburg Police Chief
Wolfgang Sielaff said the man, who
has refused to give his identity, will be
charged with hijacking in Germany.
■Washington
Social Security increases
to begin in January
WASHINGTON (AP) - Retirees
will get the biggest cost-of-living
increase in their Social Security
checks that they’ve seen in three
years - an average $ 19 a month -
beginning in January.
The 2.4 percent benefits boost,
announced by the Social Security
Administration on Tuesday, will be
nearly twice the 1.3 percent increase
senior citizens got this year.
However, with overall inflation
remaining relatively tame, the 2000
Social Security payment update will
continue a 1990s trend of modest
increases. The annual adjustment is
tied to the government’s estimate of
increases in consumer prices.
■ New York
Court rules benefits
can’t hinge on AIDS status
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York
City can’t require people with the
AIDS virus to go through special per
sonal and medical background
checks to receive welfare benefits,
the state’s highest court ruled
Tuesday.
The city’s “eligibility verification
review,” established in 1995, cannot
be used as a hurdle to welfare bene
fits, the Court of Appeals said in a
unanimous opinion.
The court said a 1997 ordinance
approved by the City Council
requires the city to make things as
easy as possible for people with
AIDS or HTV to get public assistance,
the court said.
■Colorado
Debate doesn’t stop case
against 11-year-old
GOLDEN, Colo. (AP)-An 11
year-old boy accused of fondling
his 5-year-old sister is at the center
of an international debate over
when childhood play crosses the
line and becomes a criminal act.
The boy, who has dual Swiss
American citizenship and is known
by his first name, Raoul, was
placed in juvenile detention after
his Aug. 30 arrest.
A neighbor had reported seeing
him fondling his sister. According
to court documents, the girl also
told case workers of other incidents
in which the boy molested her.
Prosecutors have charged the
boy in juvenile court with incest,
and a judge ruled Tuesday that the
case can proceed.