The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the largest in the People's Consultative Assem-bly (MPR), rejected President B.J. Habibie's accountability speech yesterday, the Jakarta Post reported last night.
"Habibie's 16 months of administration has failed," the paper quoted a party spokesperson as saying.
Meanwhile, riot police used tear gas and batons yesterday to disperse thousands of anti-government demonstrators as the criticism mounted against Habibie and eroded his chances of being re-elected next week.
About 30 protesters were hospitalized and 10 policemen injured in clashes that closed the city's business district for hours.
Habibie frowned and took notes on the stage in the national legislature last night as disgruntled members of the 700-member MPR assailed his 16-month record.
Indonesia's highest lawmaking body will decide who will be Indonesia's head of state on Wednesday next week.
It is unclear what the outcome will be. The world's fourth most populous nation is now grappling with a difficult transition to democracy after decades of authoritarian rule under ex-President Suharto.
Habibie, Suharto's one-time prot?g?, is one of three presidential candidates, and he made an impassioned defense of his turbulent tenure to the legislators in an "accountability" speech Thursday night. He said he introduced democracy and saved Indonesia's battered economy.
But when the assembly reconvened yesterday, speaker after speaker attacked the president.
Within the next few days, the legislators will vote whether to accept or reject Habibie's speech. If they reject it, Habibie will have little choice but to withdraw his nomination.
"Habibie is Suharto's crony and Suharto's shadow," said Zulvan Lindan of the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, led by Habibie's main rival, Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Even Habibie's own party, Golkar, which nominated him for the presidency, questioned his handling of two key issues -- the dropping of a corruption investigation against Suharto and the East Timor crisis.
"How serious is the government about dealing with graft?" said Prio Budi Santos, the leader of Golkar's lawmakers, during the nationally televised proceedings in the parliament.
Hours earlier, as many as 5,000 protesters, a mixture of students, opposition supporters and the unemployed, blocked Jakarta's main boulevard near parliament.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
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