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MAY 12, 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 18 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK

Newsmakers

Passage
Died: Pham Van Dong, 94, a giant of Vietnam's modern history and a leader in its struggle for independence and reunification, died in Hanoi on April 29, one day before the 25th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Dong was one of the country's earliest modern-era revolutionaries - he founded the anti-colonialist Viet Minh guerrilla force in the 1950s with Ho Chi Minh. Dubbed Ho's "favorite nephew" and imprisoned by the French, Dong was instrumental in defeating both them and the Americans on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. At the war's end in 1975, Dong was the guiding force behind the reunification of Vietnam under Communist rule. He was prime minister for more than 30 years, until 1987, and never abandoned his faith in socialism.

Yusuf Abdullahal-Rawa, 78, Islamist leader and the retired fifth president and first Murshid'ul am (spiritual guide) of Parti Islam SeMalaysia, Malaysia's largest opposition party. He died on April 28 in Penang.

Freed: Chinese dissident Chen Lantao, 36, arrested in June 1989 for "anti-revolutionary" activity. No reason was given for the April 29 release, but it came only weeks ahead of a U.S. Congress vote on permanent normal trade relations with China.

Denied Medical Parole: Hua Di, 64, a former weapons scientist jailed in Beijing since 1988 on charges of revealing military secrets, was denied parole on April 27. Hua suffers from a rare form of breast cancer which strikes men.

Like Father, Like Daughter
After her jailed father's attempt to overturn his six-year conviction for corrupt practices was rejected by a three-judge panel headed by Justice Lamin Yunus on April 29, Anwar Ibrahim's daughter Nurul Izzah stepped in to fill the breech. Before more than a thousand people who bought $25-a-plate tickets for a fund-raising dinner at Kuala Lumpur's Mandarin Oriental Hotel on May 1, the 19-year-old delivered a riveting tribute to Anwar. The event celebrated the first anniversary of the founding of the now-floundering Parti Keadilan Nasional, the opposition organization led by Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. But it was Nurul Izzah's ringing conviction and sense of injustice that brought the crowd - which included key opposition figures - to their feet with shouts of "Reformasi." The evening confirmed Nurul Izzah as a strong advocate of her father's cause, but it also hinted at a future as a significant Malaysian political opposition figure.

What Happened?
Remember how people used to say that Taiwan's presidential election was about more than just relations with China? That presidential hopeful Chen Shui-bian had a sweeping agenda that would put an end to old-style politics? Forget the rhetoric. Many of the forty or so nominees for Chen's cabinet, announced on May 1, are familiar faces from the days of the Kuomintang. The appointments reflect the reality that Chen and his feisty vice-president, Annette Lu, will encounter once they take office on May 20: They are at the head of a coalition government that must build consensus rather than forge new policies. So many of the cabinet members are from outside the Democratic Progressive Party that Lu told them to read up on Chen's campaign positions to understand what their boss expects of them once they are in power.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Pretty much everything. It has been a year since the last of the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge was apprehended. Meanwhile, negotiations with the United Nations have dragged on about who should be tried, when, where and by whom. In the latest round of talks an American senator, John Kerry, left Phnom Penh on April 29 after meeting with PMHun Sen. Kerry claimed some success in sorting out the problems. All sides agree to "exert their best efforts to complete all the tasks necessary to be able to have a formal agreement by June 15," Kerry said at his departing press conference. The U.N. had been considering a U.S. proposal that would give Cambodian judges a majority in the tribunal. Kerry's model allows the foreign prosecutor to issue indictments independent of his Cambodian counterpart. It all sounded fine until soon after Kerry was gone. That is when HunSen started to emphasize his feeling that the final decision on the tribunal is not his alone, but actually lies with the querulous National Assembly.


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