|
|
|
> magazine
|
|
||||
|
|
|||||
|
> magazine |
|||||
|
|
JULY 21, 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 28 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK Newsmakers JUST SETTLE DOWN, PLEASE At the July 8 opening of the 44th congress of Muhammadiyah (Indonesia's modernist mass Muslim organization) in Jakarta, President Abdurrahman Wahid took a break from his increasingly bitter conflict with former Muhammadiyah leader-turned-politician Amien Rais. "We mutually appreciate our difference of views," Wahid said in his opening speech. The president sat beside Rais, who now chairs the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which had elected Wahid to lead the country in October 1999. Why the president's sudden gesture of good will? On July 6, Wahid had met privately with Rais and parliament chairman Akbar Tanjung — the day after Rais publicly asked the president to "fast" from making any more provocative statements in the weeks leading up to August's MPR session. What prompted Rais was Wahid's July 2 accusation that unnamed MPs were "troublemakers." Later Wahid backtracked and then denied making the statement — an increasingly common tactic for the besieged president. In the days leading up to the congress many senior Muslim figures urged both men to tone down their rhetoric, fearing it will lead to tension between the Muhammadiyah and the more traditionalist Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's huge Muslim charitable organization, which Wahid chaired from 1984 to 1999. REALLY ENEMIES? MAYBE NOT What is the relationship between Farooq Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, and the central government in New Delhi? On the one hand, PM Atlal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet unanimously rejected Farooq's move which led Kashmir's legislative assembly to vote for increased autonomy for the troubled state (which contains the Kargil region disputed by India and Pakistan). On the other, the federal government might not be all that angry with Farooq. He has lost credibility in Kashmir over the years for being identified too closely with Delhi — after all, his son is a minister in the Vajpayee government — and was seen as a not-so-enthusiastic supporter of Kashmiri freedom. But his call for a less radical path — autonomy rather independence — might be his best chance to survive politically. The autonomy vote not only re-established him as a friend of most of Kashmir, but it allowed him to out-maneuver his opposition, led by the All Party Hurriyat Conference, which wants full Kashmiri independence. The Hurriyat is loathed by almost all politicians in New Delhi, who are glad to see it lose support. So, despite their loud rhetoric, Farooq's critics in New Delhi may not be all that unhappy that he has undercut the appeal of Hurriyat's greater threat to the unity of India. LAO HEADACHE Thai army chief Surayudh Chulanont has a real challenge on his hands: preventing insurgents from using Thai territory to launch cross-border attacks on targets inside Laos. A July 3 raid by rebels, both Lao and Thai, on the Vang Tao checkpoint resulted in the death of six insurgents and the capture of 28 by the Thai army. (Surayudh blames a second, similar incident, on July 8, on drug traffickers). Thailand has been loudly criticized by the Laotian media, in which the Vientiane government insists on calling the raiders "criminals," not "rebels." Policing the 2,000-km border with Laos is tough enough, but Surayudh also has the task of finding who is behind the violence. Funding and direction are said to come from a Lao exile living in the United States who claims to be fighting for democracy and the return of monarchy to Laos. With several mysterious bombings in Laos over the last six months and elements of the Lao population growing increasingly restive, keeping an eye on the border could become Surayudh's full-time job. Passage DIED Guan Shanyue, 89, the well-known master of traditional Chinese painting, on July 3, in Guangzhou. The city's recently opened art museum features a permanent exhibition of his paintings. Guan held the position of vice chairman of the Chinese Artists' Association. KIDNAPPED Marise Burgot, 36, Jean Jacques Le Garec, 46, and Roland Madura, 49, all members of a France-2 television crew, in the southern Philippines, by Abu Sayyaf, the secessionist Muslim guerrilla group they went to interview, on July 9. The trio were warned by the authorities and fellow journalists not to make the trip to Jolo, where the rebels are holding some 40 hostages. Jolo police are becoming increasingly frustrated with journalists' trips to the rebels' camps. Andreas Lorenz of Germany's Der Spiegel magazine has been abducted twice by the Abu Sayyaf group. APOLOGY MADE Thomas Foley, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, and Lt.- Gen. Earl Hailston, the highest ranking American officer in the country, to Okinawa Governor Inamine Keiichi. Tension between civilians and the U.S. military rose after a 14-year-old girl was allegedly molested in her home by an American marine on July 3. A few days later a hit-and-run accident, caused by an American airman, injured a local resident. With Okinawa set to host the July 21-23 G7 summit, the U. S. military indefinitely banned drinking alcoholic beverages between midnight and 5 a.m. and restricted all troops to base during those hours. ARRESTED Umer Sailya, leader of a series of strikes against Pakistan's tax reforms, in Lahore, July 10. As chairman of the All Pakistan Small Traders and Cottage Industry, Sailya argues that the government's new policy of strictly enforcing tax laws is unfair because businessmen are already burdened by paying large bribes to tax officials. Write to Asiaweek at mail@web.asiaweek.com
Quick Scroll: More stories from Asiaweek, TIME and CNN |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| Back to the top |
© 2000 Asiaweek. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. |
|
ASIAWEEK'S
LATEST