Word: wiranto
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...candidacy of President B. J. Habibie appeared to have suffered a deathblow Tuesday when the assembly voted to reject his speech giving account of his 16-month tenure. Habibie's prospects had dimmed Monday when powerful armed forces chief General Wiranto declined his offer of the vice presidency. Even if Habibie drops out, it?s hard to pick a winner. Opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri polled the most votes in June?s election ? and her legions of protesting supporters have vowed to launch a revolution if she is denied the presidency ? but she has declined to get involved in the behind...
...three-horse race, but there are more than three possible outcomes. Habibie?s Golkar party could always select a new candidate at the eleventh hour, and General Wiranto remarked cryptically on Monday that he would be prepared to enter politics if "the people" wanted him. For those outside the chamber, Wednesday may seem a little like waiting in St. Peter?s Square for that puff of smoke. Except that unlike the Catholic faithful, those outside Indonesia?s assembly may well reject the outcome...
East Timor has strained the traditional U.S.-Indonesia alliance, although you wouldn't think so to hear Indonesian leaders talk about it. Defense Secretary Cohen on Thursday sternly warned the Indonesian military to clean up its act during a meeting in Jakarta with armed forces chief General Wiranto. But while Cohen?s statement after the talks accused the Indonesian military of abetting violence in East Timor and warned it to mend its ways, the official Indonesian account of the meeting claimed that the U.S. Defense Secretary had expressed "appreciation for the army?s commitment to human rights and democracy...
...against the Australians, because that would require the support of at least elements of the Indonesian government." A rising nationalist backlash in Indonesia over the East Timor debacle won?t help the prospects for peace in East Timor. And the disconnect between the statements issued by Cohen and Wiranto after Thursday?s meeting could spell trouble...
...this diplomatic embarrassment that President Habibie proposed the referendum, ignoring the warnings of powerful military leaders, including armed forces chief General Wiranto. Habibie should have listened. Within hours of the Sept. 4 announcement that nearly 80% of the electorate had voted for independence, Dili and other towns echoed with gunfire as militiamen took over the streets, unchecked by the military. Civilians began pouring into churches, convents and U.N. compounds seeking safety (see accompanying story). "If there is a devil, these militia guys work for him," said a photographer evacuated from Dili after the referendum...