HIGHLIGHTS


CHINA - GEOPOLITICA

China approves changes to draft resolution on Iraq
China has welcomed modifications to a draft resolution on Iraq made by the United States and Britain.
The Chinese government says it hopes the United Nations Security Council can reach a consensus on a resolution at an early date, to stabilise the security situation in Iraq and promote the process of reconstruction.
The draft resolution would give international backing both to a caretaker Iraqi government and the US-led multinational force that will remain in the country after June 30.
The latest version outlines a rough timeline for US-led troops to leave Iraq "upon completion of the political process" to create a constitutionally elected Iraqi government.
France and Russia - who along with the US, Britain and China are permanent members of the Security Council - have voiced reservations about the modified draft resolution.
Source; Chinese foreigner office, May 04

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CHINA – HUMAN RIGHTS

Amnesty calls on China to conduct inquiry into Tiananmen massacre
The human rights group, Amnesty International, says China should conduct an independent inquiry into the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in and around Tiananmen Square.
In a strongly worded statement issued on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the June 4 incident, Amnesty says those found responsible should be tried and brought to justice. The London-based organisation is also calling on the government to release all those who are still held in connection with the Tiananmen crackdown and who never received fair trials. The group has records of more than 50 people it believes remain imprisoned in China for their part in the protests. It says this represents a fraction of the true figure, never released by Chinese authorities.
Source; Amnesty International, May 04

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INDONESIA – INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Poll predicts huge loss for Indonesia's President Megawati
A new poll in Indonesia suggests President Megawati Sukarnoputri is facing a devastating defeat in the country's first direct presidential election next month.
The poll suggests former cabinet minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono could snatch a victory by gaining more than 50 per cent in the first round of voting.
Our Indonesia correspondent, Tim Palmer, reports the poll, conducted by the Japanese LSI agency across Indonesia, suggests the momentum behind Mr Yudhoyono, known as SBY, continues to grow.
The poll gives Mr Yudhoyono 49.8 per cent of the vote - close to the simple majority needed to sweep the election at the first round.
President Megawati trails by more than 30 per cent and now appears locked in a battle for second place with former general, Wiranto, of the Golkar party.
The poll shows both have about 14 per cent of the vote.
A second placed candidate would head into a second round election in September if no candidate wins more than 50 per cent in the first poll.
Source; National news agencies, May 04

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INDONESIA – ECONOMY

World Bank report shows millions of Indonesians living in poverty
The World Bank says weak growth in investment and exports is hampering efforts to lift millions of Indonesians out of poverty.
In a report to a meeting of international aid donors, the World Bank says despite a recent fall in poverty levels, more than half the population still lives on less than $US2 a day. The World Bank says services to the poor are among the worst in the region. Unemployment rose to 9.3 percent last year and some two-thirds of the jobless were aged 15-24. Indonesia's maternal mortality rate is twice as great as in the Philippines and five times greater than Vietnam. The report says severe malnutrition among infants had increased from 6.3 percent in 1989 to eight percent in 2002.
Source; The World Bank, May 04

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FIDJI ISLAND – PUBLIC HEALTH

HIV/AIDS pose major threat to Fiji
Fiji's Minister for Health, Solomoni Naivalu, says HIV/AIDS poses a national security threat.
The first four cases of HIV infection were reported in 1989 - by December 2003, there were 142. Mr Naivalu says there could be as many as 4,000 unreported HIV infections based on the rate of increase between 2001 and 2002. He says the disease in Fiji is displaying trends experienced by countries that are now undergoing catastrophic problems. Mr Naivalu predicts there will be more deaths, increased poverty and more orphans. He says a wide range of social, economic and cultural factors have led to an environment in which risky sexual behaviour is widespread He was speaking to delegates at the Seventh Commonwealth Women's Affairs Ministers meeting in Nadi.
Source; FHM, May 04

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VIETNAM – INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Vietnamese crime boss executed by firing squad
Vietnamese mafia boss Nam Cam and four others have been executed by a firing squad, following a corruption scandal that exposed links between organised crime and the communist government.
Nam Cam, also known as Truong Van Cam, was found guilty last June of ordering the assassination of a rival underworld figure and bribing state officials to protect his criminal network. He was handed two death sentences. An appeal against the conviction was rejected and a bid for presidential clemency was turned down. Nam Cam ran gambling dens, restaurants, brothels and protection rackets in Ho Chi Minh City until he was arrested in December 2001.
Source; National news agency, May 04

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AFGHANISTAN – INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Aid group suspends work in Afghanistan after five workers slain
Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has announced it will temporarily stop all operations in Afghanistan following the murder of five of its workers.
The five aid workers were killed on Wednesday in a gun attack on their vehicle in Baghdis province in northwest Afghanistan. The victims have been identified as a Belgian woman, a Dutchman, a Norwegian man, and two Afghan men. A spokeswoman for MSF says the agency's activities will be suspended nationwide. She says there is no clear motive for the killing or any indication of who was behind the murders. Foreign aid workers are regularly targeted in the south and east of the country, but until now not in the north. MSF is a non-political organisation, which provides health care primarily in war zones and other impoverished nations. It has been working in Afghanistan since 1979.
Source; MSF data, May 04

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BURMA – NATIONAL CRISIS

Burma cyclone toll rises to 220: Red Cross
The Red Cross says the death toll from last month's cyclone on Burma's west coast has risen to 220, with 14,000 people homeless.
Red Cross officials say an unknown number of people are missing from the cyclone - the worst to hit the coastal communities of Rakhine state in nearly 40 years. The aid agency is set to launch an international appeal for the cyclone victims, which it expects to raise about $US120.000. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said recently Burma had made a surprise plea for international assistance after the cyclone, which struck on May 19 but was not reported until last week. The AFP news agency says Burma's military government is known for under-reporting natural disasters and accidents and rarely seeks foreign help. UNICEF has already begun relief missions to the affected area.
Source; AFP, May 04

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SOUTH KOREA – INTERNAL AFFAIRS

South Korean Olympic official jailed on corruption charges
International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president Kim Un-Yong has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison on corruption charges.
In the district court in the South Korean capital, Seoul, Kim, 73, has also been ordered to pay $US677, 000 in part restitution of embezzled funds. The AFP news agency quotes court officials as saying that Kim was found guilty of diverting $US2.8 million from South Korean sports organisations. He was also accused of accepting bribes from business contacts. Kim resigned from the leadership of the World Taekwondo Federation in January and also stepped down as a national legislator. The IOC has suspended him from his post as vice-president and opened its own investigation into his activities.
Source; AFP, May 04

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FOCUS


NEPAL – NATIONAL AFFAIRS

King reappoints prime minister to avert political crisis
Nepal's former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been reappointed in an apparent bid by the King to avert a political crisis.
King Gyanendra sacked the prime minister two years ago for alleged incompetence and took charge of government, sparking massive pro-democracy protests. Opposition parties and Maoist insurgents have been demanding that King Gyanendra accept an 18-point plan to limit his powers - or face the abolition of the monarchy.

Presenter/Interviewer: Mike Woods
Speakers: Dr Chitra Tiwari, independent analyst and Nepal specialist

TIWARI: You know his options are very limited and offers are running out. He probably will have to strike some sort of deal with the parties because parties are also getting more support from international agencies, even you know India, United States, Great Britain, Australia and othe countries. They say that the political parties must come together as a pre requisite you know to peace with the Maoists in the future. So if the King does not listen to these ideas.... to these opinions probably he might be in danger in the days to come.

WOODS: THe political alliance containing the five parliamentary parties have submitted an 18-point road map limiting the King's power, calling for transparency from the Royal household. The King either accepts that or sees the monarchy abolished. Wouldn't his advisers be telling him that some monarchy is better than no monarchy at all?

TIWARI: Well I would think so but again remember the Nepal is declared as a Hindu kingdom and I am of the opinion that you know in Hindu, monarchy and constitutional monarchy are two different concepts...they can't go together but somehow the people are making that mistake there. A Hindu monarch does not receive his powers from the constitution but he receives his powers from the religious texts.

WOODS: What sort of guarantee does the Alliance...the Political Alliance have, that should a republic come to fruition, that the Maoists would participate in a democratic republic and not see a bigger prize...that being more power?

TIWARI: They have been telling the parties that they would abide by the spirit of the competitive politics and they would participate in politics along with other parties in the event Nepal is declared a republic. But you know as a revolutionary party...as a party you know that led the republican movement, I would think that they would definitely have some say...they would definitely you know emerge as the largest party in the new set up. But given the international situation. given the you know antipathy towards you know Maoists coming from India and from other countries, the Maoists will have to make some adjustment with the political forces... with the political parties, so I believe they cannot do away the multi-party system there even if they want to.

WOODS: Do you believe that the monarchy can survive in Nepal? And if so how quickly must the King move to ensure that survival?

TIWARI: I think you know he can still survive there if he agrees you know for the change in the constitution.... a constitution you know that will be approved by the assembly. You know the election to constitute assembly does not mean necessarily that it is against the monarchy. You know once you have elections you know the tide could go anywhere.... to any side. So still you know the King has a place there, he will have time you know to bargain with the republicans. If he does that he will survive, if not if he goes into confrontation with the political parties on the one hand and the Maoists on the other then I'm afraid his future is bleak.
Source; ABC, May 04



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FRENCH POLYNESIA – INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Fate of government in the balance
In French Polynesia, people are awaiting the first meeting of the newly elected Assembly, to determine whether there will be a change of government.
In a surprise result, the opposition Union for Democracy won 27 seats in last month's Assembly elections, against 28 seats for the ruling Tahoeraa party of President Gaston Flosse. Now the opposition coalition has won the support of two minor parties, gaining a one-seat majority in the Assembly. With such a tight result, the fate of the Flosse government is still uncertain.

Presenter/Interviewer: Nic Maclellan
Speakers: Jean-Marc Regnault, University of French Polynesia, Tahiti

MACLELLAN: With 29 seats in French Polynesia's 57-seat Assembly, the opposition Union for Democracy hopes to form a new government.

This coalition unites pro-independence parties - Oscar Temaru's Tavini Huiraatira and Jacqui Drollet's Ia Mana Te Nunaa - together with autonomy parties like Here Ai'a, Emile Vernaudon's Ai'a Api and the trade union O Oe To Oe Rima.

Now the opposition has gained support from Nicole Bouteau, a former government minister, and Philip Schyle, President of the autonomy party Fetia Api.

Jean-Marc Regnault, lecturer at the University of French Polynesia in Tahiti, says the opposition's electoral success was unexpected.

REGNAULT: "I think that the surprise was immense on all sides. Only a few activists close to the independence party seriously thought they might win.

"I think that amongst the political leadership and outside commentators, no one was expecting it.

"Even the general public was surprised, because at the start of counting, the results came from the outer islands - the Australs, the Marquesas and the Tuamotus - where Gaston Flosse won a significant majority. So no one thought it was possible for him to lose.

"When the final results were tallied, it completely astounded those who won and those who lost."

MACLELLAN: Except for a brief period in the early 1990s, President Gaston Flosse and his Tahoeraa party have governed French Polynesia for over twenty years.

President Flosse has long been supported by his political ally French President Jacques Chirac, who held a France-Oceania summit in Tahiti last July.

But Jean-Marc Regnault believes that there is a mood for change amongst ordinary Tahitians.

REGNAULT: "There's a very deep gulf between the government and the political elite who benefit from being in government, and the vast bulk of the population who don't benefit from the current set-up.

"The public seemed a bit irritated with a leader who seems just too sure of himself, and also seeing the French President visit here last July as if he was entering a conquered nation.

"There was also the issue that the President had organised for the winning electoral ticket to get a bonus of 33 per cent of the seats. For many citizens voting here, this seemed a bit like over-kill, as if Gaston Flosse was too sure of his victory.

"This desire to crush the opposition seem to create a mobilisation amongst the people to give a lesson to Gaston Flosse."

MACLELLAN: Both President Flosse and independence activist Oscar Temaru have announced that they will be candidates for the Presidency to be decided on June 10. But with just one seat difference in the Assembly, the Union for Democracy will need to guarantee support from all its members.

This week, New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff stated that the post-election transition should be managed without any violence, an indication of concern that opposition activists might protest if President Flosse returns to power.

Jean-Marc Regnault says that people are waiting quietly for events to unfold.

REGNAULT: "Until now, the country has been surprisingly calm. You might have thought the victors would celebrate their victory, or start issuing demands that they want this or that.

"But there's been none of this. The country is very calm, with people happy to discuss amongst themselves the events that are unfolding.

"But as people have expressed a desire for change, and if this was thwarted by a political manoeuvre, it would certainly be unacceptable for a certain number of activists.

"Even though as a university academic I can't be partisan, it's clear that Gaston Flosse manipulated the elections - through the short electoral campaign and the bonus seats for the winners, he clearly tried to manipulate the result.

"So it would be extraordinary if, after having lost the vote, he now tried to change the results by buying one or two members of the opposition."

MACLELLAN: Jean-Marc Regnault stresses that President Flosse has not yet given up the fight.

REGNAULT: "Since yesterday, Gaston Flosse has made a number of statements that are extremely worrying for democracy. He's announced that he's trying to have the elections annulled, based on pretexts that have got no validity.

"He's also made some very serious statements. He said that he's held a discussion with France's Overseas Minister and that France will no longer give money to French Polynesia if the independence movement takes power.

"There are two options: either the Minister really said this, which would be really serious because France respects the rule of law and should accept an election result. This would be an intervention by the French State that is unusual, or even illegal, I would say.

"But if the Minister didn't say this, Gaston Flosse is making threats and he must take full responsibility for the consequences of what might happen. I think there are some people who are playing with fire."
Source; ABC, May 04

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