8 theSun | THURSDAY JUNE 4 2009

news without borders

British govt in disarray on eve of polls

LONDON: British Prime Min-
ister Gordon Brown lost his
fourth minister within 24 hours
yesterday as he faced taunts that
his government was collapsing
on the eve of polls which could
seal his fate.
Amid talk that the wave of
resignations may be the begin-
ning of the end of his premier-
ship, Brown faced a rowdy Prime
Minister’s Questions session at
which Conservative leader David
Cameron urged a snap general
election.
“The government is collapsing
before our eyes,” said Cameron,
tipped by opinion polls to oust
Brown as premier within a year.
“Why doesn’t he take the one act
of authority left to him: get down to
the palace, ask for a dissolution (of
parliament), call that election?”
Nick Clegg, leader of the sec-
ond opposition centrist Liberal
Democrats, said Brown’s Labour
Party was “in total meltdown”.
The premier tried to hit back
by stressing his policies on pull-
ing Britain out of recession and
tackling the rumbling scandal
over lawmakers’ expenses – but
his defence prompted Cameron
to charge he was “in denial”.
The angry exchanges came
barely an hour after Communi-
ties Secretary Hazel Blears said
publicly she was quitting.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith,
embarrassed in the expenses row
after it emerged she claimed for
two adult films watched by her
husband, has confirmed she will
step down at the next cabinet
reshuffle, expected as early as
tomorrow.
Children’s minister Beverley
Hughes also said on Tuesday she
was going and will be joined
by Cabinet Office minister Tom
Watson, a close Brown ally.
The crisis comes on the eve of
today’s elections for the European
Parliament and 34 English local
councils which opinion polls and
commentators say could yield
Labour’s worst ever losses.
The recent row over lavish
expense claims by lawmakers
from the public purse, which has
led 15 members of parliament to
say they will quit, has piled fresh
pressure on Brown’s already un-
popular premiership
amid accusations he
has been slow to
respond to public anger.
“Rats Desert Sinking Ship”
and “Meltbrown” were among
headlines yesterday while The
Guardian newspaper, tradition-
ally sympathetic to Brown and
Labour, symbolically withdrew
its support from the premier.
“It is time to cut him loose,” it
said in an extended editorial.
Labour “faces its worst defeat
in its history tomorrow but the
prime minister does not recog-
nise his direct responsibility for
the mayhem”, the daily said.
“The truth is that there is no
vision from him, no plan, no
argument for the future and no
support.”
There are
In the spring
of
and other Ch 1989, over one million st
widespread reports that finance
minister Alistair Darling, who
has led Britain’s response to the
recession, and Foreign Secretary
David Miliband could be moved
on in a post-election reshuffle.
Brown twice dodged ques- The truth is
tions from Cameron yesterday that there
on whether Darling would still is no vision
be in place in a week.
Some reports suggest Brown from him,
could face a leadership challenge no plan, no
before the next general election, argument
which must be held within a for the
year, possibly from charismatic
Health Secretary Alan Johnson.
future and
Others say there is little inter- no support.”
est from anyone in taking over – The Guardian
the helm of a party which looks
likely to be forced out of office by
the Conservatives within
months. – AFP

China ups security ahead and began a

in
Beijing’s Tia ese citizens occupied
nanmen Squa
pro-democra
re
udents
Australia rules
demonstratio
n
shake China’s that would
cy
out racism
of Tiananmen anniversary
Communist
Party to the

Apr 15: Form

BEIJING: Chinese security forces blanketed
Tiananmen Square yesterday ahead of the 20th
anniversary of the June 4 crackdown on pro-de-
mocracy protesters, a day after Twitter and Hot-
mail Internet services in China were blocked.
Black police vans lurked at the side of the For-
bidden City, while police and paramilitary forces
patrolled through crowds of tourists enjoying a
sunny summer morning.
Tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square before
dawn on June 4, 1989 to crush weeks of student
and worker protests. The ruling Communist Party,
which has never released a death toll, fears that
any commemoration of the crackdown could
challenge its continuing hold on power.
“Business is poor today. You’d think most
people are tourists but they aren’t, they are plain-
clothes security,” said a trinket peddler surnamed
Li, before a plainclothes policeman told her to
stop talking to foreigners.
“They are scared there will be a big blow-up
because of tomorrow, but I don’t think anything
will happen.”
Chairman Mao Zedong’s mausoleum, in the
centre of the square, was closed for “equipment
repairs” from today through Friday, according to
a hastily scrawled handpainted sign.
About 30 people are still serving prison
sentences for their activities in 1989, according
to the San Francisco-based human rights
organisation Dui Hua. Others are in prison
for continued activism after their initial
release.
Hundreds of other protest leaders are
in permanent exile.
In a sign of nervousness, China on
Tuesday blocked access to popular Inter-
net services Twitter, online photo sharing
service Flickr, and email provider Hotmail.
Foreign newscasts about the anniversary
were also cut.
Police prevented at least four foreign
television crews from filming on Tianan-
men Square in the week before the
anniversary.
Administrators at Chinese universi-
ties have been told to keep a close eye Pr es ident Mikhail
cancelled due
on foreigners in their departments. Taxi protests – hu
drivers were instructed to watch out embarrassme
for suspicious passengers, especially for governme
those headed towards Tiananmen
Square.
In Washington, the US Congress
urged China to launch a UN-backed
probe of its crackdown in Tiananmen
Square and free all political prisoners,
on the eve of the bloodshed’s 20th
anniversary. – Reuters
briefs
Suu Kyi challenges
witness ban
YANGON: Lawyers for Myanmar opposi-
tion leader Aung San Suu Kyi went to
court yesterday to challenge a ban pre-
venting her from calling three out of four
defence witnesses at her internationally
condemned trial.
Her legal team said the refusal of judges
to allow the witnesses to testify at the
closed prison trial showed that the military
regime’s case against Aung San Suu Kyi
was one-sided.
She faces up to five years in jail on
charges of breaching the conditions of
her house arrest after a bizarre incident
in which an American man, John Yettaw,
swam to her lakeside home in May.
Her lawyer, Nyan Win said that their
preparations for final arguments in the
case, which are due on Friday, were “al-
most finished.” – AFP
Obama meets Saudi king,
Osama issues message
RIYADH: US President Barack Obama
launched a Middle East mission yesterday
to reach out to Muslims but was greeted
later the prot
core. Six we
es
in a bloody m ts ended
as sacre
eks
despite latest
chief and demo er Communist Party
Hu Yaobang
die
cracy supporter
students gathe s. Thousands of
May 19: Zhao
head of Comm Ziyang,
students in sq
unist Party, vis
its
attack
r in Tiananm ua
Square to mo
urn Hu’s death
en ditch appeal for re and makes last- CANBERRA: Australia’s govern-
compromise (a
Apr 18-21: Pr May 20: Prim bove) ment said yesterday that racism was
democracy sp otests calling for declares martia e Minister Li Peng
read to other l law not behind a string of violent attacks
cities
Apr 22: Defyi
orders, tens of ng government
May 26: Zhao on Indian students, including the lat-
tho us arrest for oppo placed under house
on Tiananmen an ds converge sing crackdown est slashing of a man in Melbourne
Sq
memorial servi uare for Hu’s Jun 3-4: Troo by a group of five unidentified
ce open fire, killin ps
Apr 26: State many proteste
g youths.
denounces de -run People’s Daily rs “There’s no allegation, no sub-
monstrators an Ju n 9: China’s
threatens gove d
rnment crack
down de facto leade stantial allegation that these are
May 4: Mass r
ive marches ac Deng Xiaopi
ng racially motivated.
China coincide ro
with 70th anniv ss congratulates “I don’t believe so, and neither
of historic stu
dent protest mo ersary army and blames does the Indian government,” Trade
May 13: Stud vement turmo
il on counter-
strike in Tiana ents begin hunger revolutionaries and Acting Foreign Minister Simon
nmen Square
May 15: Welc Crean told local television.
in Tiananmen ome ceremony The latest attack has redoubled
Square for So
Gorbachev
viet fears that violent bashings and rob-
beries of Indian students could dam-
to
ge age Australia’s third-biggest export
nt earner, the A$15 billion (RM44.7 bil-
nt
lion) market for overseas students.
Since India’s Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh raised concerns
last week with his Australian coun-
terpart Kevin Rudd, several senior
Lone proteste ministers have been wheeled out
r
blocks colum
of tanks head n by the centre-left Australian gov-
ing to ernment to avert a foreign student
Tiananm
© GRAPHIC
NEWS morning after en Square on
Pictures: Getty
Images
of “Tank Man”
massacre. Fa
te
exodus.
is still unknow Rudd and Foreign Minister
n
by threats from Osama bin Laden who Stephen Smith also formed a new
accused him of sowing fresh seeds of task force to deal with the problem,
hatred. led by former special forces com-
Obama arrived in Riyadh to a red-carpet mander turned National Security
welcome and a kiss on both cheeks from
Saudi King Abdullah, a key regional power
Adviser Duncan Lewis.
Crean said while Australia would
broker. do everything possible to stop the
But minutes after Air Force One touched attacks, he believed the issue was
down, Al Jazeera television aired a com- being sensationalised in both Aus-
bative new audiotape from the fugitive Al tralian and Indian media, potentially
Qaeda chief. making the problem worse.
Joining a battle for the hearts and minds “Australia I believe is an inclu-
of the Arab world, the Saudi-born Osama sive, welcoming, tolerant society. It’s
accused Obama of perpetuating former easy-going. That is a brand worth
president George W. Bush’s policies of preserving,” Crean said.
“antagonising Muslims” and sowing “new
Australia Crean’s defence came close on
seeds of hatred against America”. – AFP dodges the heels of another attack – this
recession time on a 21-year-old Indian student
Bali governor says won’t after by a group of five males.
He was slashed across the chest
enforce anti-porn law surprise with a box-cutter knife in suburban
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s mainly Hindu is-
land of Bali has no intention of enforcing
growth Melbourne after they stopped him
on Tuesday and demanded ciga-
a controversial anti-porn law passed last pg 13 rettes and money.
year because it conflicts with local culture Australia’s government said that
and tradition, the provincial governor said hate crimes would be made an of-
in an interview. fence in the state of Victoria where
The new law, which created much most of the attacks occurred.
confusion over what would be considered Police said the latest in a string
pornographic, was slammed by religious of assaults on Indian students was
minorities but backed by the Islamic and not racially-motivated, as has been
Islamist political parties allied to President claimed in sections of India’s me-
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Governor I Made Mangku Pastika said
dia.
“I would say this is an opportun-
the most serious effect of the law would be istic fight. It could have happened to
its impact on Bali’s culture and traditional any individual of any nationality,”
art, which includes nude statues and often police Senior Constable Karla Den-
sexually explicit imagery. – Reuters nis said. – Reuters