World

Habibie's Reign On The Rocks

October 15, 1999 / 11:17 AM EDT / AP

President B.J. Habibie's re-election bid appeared to falter Friday as angry students launched another day of protests and opposition lawmakers condemned a speech that defended his troubled 16-month tenure.

As many as 5,000 protesters were back on the streets of the capital Friday, throwing gasoline bombs, setting fires and blocking Jakarta's main boulevard with commandeered buses and makeshift barricades. Rocks, bottles and other debris littered the road not far from parliament.

Also Friday, security personnel stormed nearby Atmajaya University and flushed out protesters with tear gas, then beat them with batons. Some officers fired warning shots. Ambulance officers said more than 20 people were injured.

The campus has been the site of several deadly clashes between security forces and pro-democracy students in recent months.

Â"We reject Habibie. He has corrupted the country. We will fight him until he is tried in court,Â" said one protester, Earlim Silaen.

At the legislature Thursday night, Habibie made an impassioned plea to the 700-member People's Consultative Assembly, asking it to elect him when it chooses Indonesia's next president Wednesday.

Few legislators accepted Habibie's three-hour Â"accountabilityÂ" speech without reservations, and many condemned it outright. The Jakarta Post newspaper described the address as Â"a shameless bid to stay in power.Â"

Outside parliament as Habibie spoke, protesters in a march by some 10,000 people clashed with police, who fired water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd. Dozens were injured, and the military said 15 security personnel were also hurt.

Habibie returns to the assembly Friday to hear debate on the content of his speech. Within the next few days, the legislators will vote whether to accept or reject it. If they reject it, Habibie will have little choice but to withdraw his nomination.

Habibie was never elected as the head of state. In May 1998 he was tapped by ex-President Suharto, his one-time mentor, as the long-ruling autocrat was driven out of power by the same student groups that are now back on the streets of Jakarta.

Megawati Sukarnoputri, Habibie's main rival for the presidency, called on her opposition Indonesian Democratic Party to reject Habibie's speech. The party has the largest block of seats in the assembly, but not an outright majority.

Police fire tear gas at protestors on the streets of Jakarta.

Habibie's other rival for the presidency is Abdurrahman Wahid of the Muslim-oriented National Awakening Party. The party's chairman, Matori Abdul Djalil, predicted that about 75 percent of the assembly's members would reject Habibie's speeh, the Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported.

In Thursday's address, the president took credit for turning around Indonesia's spiraling economy and introducing democratic reforms.

He admitted Indonesia still endures many serious problems. But he blamed the mess faced by the world's fourth-most populous nation squarely on his predecessors: Suharto and founding president Sukarno, Megawati's father.

Habibie said he is cracking down on corruption. But he infuriated students and some legislators by defending this week's decision to drop a long-running corruption probe against Suharto. Prosecutors who closed the probe cited lack of evidence.