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.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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