Popular opposition leader Mega-wati Sukarnoputri was elected as Indonesia's vice president yesterday, one day after she lost the first free and contested presidential vote in the country's history.
"I thank God for this, and I will do my best for the republic of Indonesia," Megawati said, as a crowd of lawmakers burst into cheers and sang the national anthem.
The vote in the People's Consultative Assembly, the country's highest legislative body, was 396 for Megawati and 284 for the leader of the Muslim United Development Party, Hamzah Haz.
The victory seemed certain to end a rash of violent, anti-government protests that broke out after Megawati lost the presidential ballot Wednesday.
For the first time in days, not a single protest was reported in the capital of Jakarta.
However, the main tourist island of Bali, a Megawati stronghold, was wracked by unrest for a second day, even as the legislative vote was under way.
Thousands of Megawati supporters set buildings on fire and barricaded the only road into the main tourist area. No injuries were immediately reported.
"Megawati lost. We burn everything. We are mad. This is people power," said one of the protesters, who identified himself as Putu.
The vice presidency victory by Megawati, the daughter of Sukarno, Indonesia's founding president, means that she could eventually succeed Abdurrahman Wahid as the country's next president.
Many people believe that Wahid, 59, a moderate Muslim politician and cleric who is blind and has had two strokes, may not be able to complete his five-year term in office as Indonesia's leader.
Shortly before the vice presidential election, General Wiranto, head of the powerful military, and Akbar Tanjung, chief of the former ruling party, Golkar, withdrew from the contest.
Both said they were doing so to promote national unity in this diverse country.
"Hopefully ... the situation will calm down and we're going to have peaceful days," Amien Rais, the newly elected reformist speaker of assembly, said after Megawati's victory.
"Let's now forget all our differences in the past. We have to stay united together to rebuild the country. Hopefully all the wounds will be healed now," he said.
Anticipating that outcome, the stock market jumped 5.5 percent, and the rupiah currency gained strength against the US dollar.
Wahid, who was sworn in as president Wednesday night, came to power as Indonesia grapples with its worst economic crisis in three decades and continuing communal and separatist violence across this ethnically diverse archipelago of 210 million people.
On Wednesday, Jakarta was paralyzed by widespread protests that broke out when Megawati's many supporters heard she had lost the presidential vote.
Gunshots rang out across Jakarta as thousands of demonstrators tried to march on Parliament, throwing rocks and gasoline bombs at police who stopped them with tear gas and warning shots. The clashes continued well into the night before an advance by security forces sent them scattering.
At least two people were killed and 65 injured when a car exploded. A separate homemade bomb, hidden in a flower pot, injured five people at the city's main traffic circle.
A third bomb went off harmlessly in a street after Jakarta's huge convention center was set on fire.
But pro-Wahid celebrations also occurred Wednesday in many other cities on the country's 17,000 islands.
See WAHID on
Page 4
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS