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Japan’s scandal-hit
opposition chief resigns
TOKYO: Japan’s opposition leader Ichiro
Ozawa, under fire over a political donations
scandal, stepped down yesterday ahead
of polls that conservative Prime Minister
Taro Aso must call by September.
Ozawa, who resigned as head of the
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), had
seen voter support slip away ever since
his top aide was indicted in March for
taking illegal donations from a construc-
tion company.
“To strengthen our party unity for a
victory in the upcoming general elections
and for a change of government, I have
decided to sacrifice myself and resign as
DPJ leader,” he said.
Ozawa, who maintained his innocence
and stays on as a lawmaker, said the next
election will be a great chance to end more
than half a century of nearly unbroken rule
by Aso’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
“In order to achieve that goal, I believe
the party must be united,” he said in a
televised news conference.
“We cannot win the next election if
the party is divided. If the party is united,
I firmly believe we can win.
“In order to achieve the change of ad-
ministration and to solidify the Democratic
Party of Japan, I have made this decision.”
Ozawa did not say who may succeed
him at the helm of the party, which
controls the upper house of parliament.
Possible contenders include party secre-
Global ocean talks begin in Indonesia
MANADO (Indonesia): A global meet-
ing on the future of the world’s oceans
opened in Indonesia yesterday with dis-
cussions aimed at helping set the stage
for December’s climate change talks in
Denmark.
Officials from over 70 countries met
in Manado city for the five-day World
Ocean Conference, a ministerial-level
meeting touted as the first major global
talks on the role of oceans in mitigating
climate change and global warming.
Environment, fisheries and resources
ministers are expected to pass a joint
declaration aimed at influencing talks
in Copenhagen in December that will
discuss a successor to the expiring Kyoto
Protocol on climate change.
Host Indonesia says it hopes to
broaden the scope of any future climate
agreement to encompass marine envi-
tary general Yukio Hatoyama and former
UN blasts Sri Lanka
attack as ‘bloodbath’
party leader Katsuya Okada.
A one-time LDP member, Ozawa led
in opinion polls for months over Aso, who
took office in September but suffered a
plunge in support over a series of gaffes
and Japan’s worst economic slump since
World War II.
Ozawa’s approval ratings however took COLOMBO: The United
a dive after his senior aide was indicted in Nations said a weekend at-
March for allegedly accepting illegal political tack in Sri Lanka that killed
Tamil Eelam
donations from the Nishimatsu Construc- hundreds was the bloodbath
supporters
tion company through front groups. it had feared, while the Tamil
carry black
In its latest poll, the Yomiuri Shimbun Tigers and government
flags and
daily said yesterday the public approval traded blame ahead of UN
banners
rating for Aso and his cabinet climbed Security Council talks over
with slogans
to 28.7% this month from 24.3% in April the war.
against
– more than four points ahead of Ozawa. In the latest reported as-
Congress
Meanwhile the disapproval rating for sault on civilians trapped in
party
Ozawa swung higher to 71% from 66% in the war zone, hundreds of
president
the previous survey, the daily reported. people were reported killed
Sonia Gandhi
Even among DPJ supporters, more on Sunday in an artillery bar-
written on
than half of respondents said they were rage that struck the less than
them as they
dissatisfied with Ozawa’s decision to 5 sq km the separatist rebels
take part in
stay on, the first time a majority of party control.
a Black Flag
adherents came out against him. “We’ve been consistently
agitation
“Ozawa likely made the decision with warning against a bloodbath,
against
a raft of recent polls showing an improve- and the large-scale killing of
Gandhi’s
ment in support for Prime Minister Taro civilians, including more
visit and
Aso,” said Tetsuro Kato, a professor of po- than 100 children this week-
genocide
litical science at Hitotsubashi University. end, appears to show that
of Tamil
“With voters already disaffected by the bloodbath has become
civilians in
politics in general, they’re now weighing a reality,” UN spokesman
Sri Lanka
which party is the lesser evil.” – AFP Gordon Weiss said.
in Chennai,
The rebels blamed the
India, on
government, which in turn
Sunday.
said the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
had fired on the people it
ronments.
“It is clear that our precious marine
resources are under dire and increasing
threat and that in many parts of the world
climate change will accelerate their de-
struction,” Indonesian Maritime Affairs
and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi
said at the conference opening.
“Adaptation and mitigation measures
are urgently needed to be taken up
not only to save marine and coastal
resources but also to save the coastal
communities.”
Leaders from six countries – Indonesia,
the Philippines, Malaysia, East Timor, the
Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea
– will meet on the sidelines of the confer-
ence to launch a plan to save the Coral
Triangle, an underwater ecosystem that
is home to more than half the world’s
coral reefs. – AFP
Battle begins for pig-tailed
HK tycoon’s billions
HONGKONG: A legal battle
over the estate of colourful
Hongkong billionaire tycoon
Nina Wang (pix) starts, pitting
her former lover and feng
shui master against her fam-
ily, who both lay claim to the
vast fortune.
Wang, who died in April
2007, was one of Asia’s
wealthiest women whose
business empire, including
the Chinachem Group, the
city’s largest private property
developer, has been estimated
at US$4.2 billion (RM14.7 bil-
lion).
The court battle, a culmi-
nation of nearly two years of
tense legal jockeying, hinges
on which of two wills is valid,
with internationally renowned
handwriting experts to be
called as witnesses.
Wang’s former feng shui
adviser, Tony Chan, lays sole
claim to the fortune based
on a hand-written 2006 will
as she lay dying of ovarian
cancer. The married Chan has
said he was Wang’s long-time
theSun
has been holding hostage
for months in a last-minute
move to secure international
pressure for a truce to stave
off defeat.
Getting a clear picture
of events in the war zone
is next to impossible, as it
generally closed to outsiders
and those within it are not
fully independent of pres-
sure that is often applied at
gunpoint.
Diplomats and officials
said the UN Security Council
was due to have another
informal meeting over Sri
Lanka yesterday in New York
with the foreign ministers of
Britain and France, who had
a stormy visit to Sri Lanka at
the end of April, both due to
attend.
The council is split over
whether to elevate discus-
sion over Sri Lanka’s war to
a formal level where it could
act. The United States and
Britain are pushing to get a
ceasefire, while Russia and
China have opposed that.
lover. In the rival
legal camp is the
Chinachem Chari-
table Foundation
representing
Wang’s family
which lays claim
to an earlier 2002
will.
Her family as-
serts that Chan mis-
led the superstitious,
pig-tailed Wang to hand
over her billions in exchange
for eternal life.
Wang was dubbed “Siu
Teem Teem”, or “Little Sweet-
ie”, after a favourite Japanese
cartoon character and her
shy, giggly ways. Her wealth,
idiosyncrasies and tragic
personal life made for a soap-
opera-like existence under the
media’s constant glare.
The Shanghai-born Wang
inherited most of her wealth
from her husband, Teddy,
who was kidnapped in 1990
and never seen alive again,
despite the payment of a
US$33 million (RM115 mil-
| TUESDAY MAY 12 2009
Sri Lankan Defence Secre-
tary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said
the LTTE timed the attack to
come just before the UN Se-
curity Council meeting, the
daily newspaper The Island
quoted him as saying.
The LTTE has called for
a truce and external inter-
vention as the military has
cornered its fighters in a tiny
strip of coastline. Sri Lanka
has ruled out any truce, say-
ing it would allow the Tigers
another chance to rearm as it
has in the past.
The United Nations has for
months urged restraint, and
the UN human rights com-
missioner has warned both
could possibly be blamed for
war crimes. Both sides deny
the allegations.
Pro-rebel web site www.
TamilNet.com yesterday re-
ported that more than 3,200
people had been killed, quot-
ing the head of an LTTE-con-
trolled aid group, the Tamil
Rehabilitation Organisation.
The attack prompted thou-
sands of Tamils in Canada
to block a major highway in
protests. TamilNet said at
least 1,200 bodies had been
counted, and said “political
circles in Colombo” blamed
India.
“The large-scale slaugh-
ter is believed to be a result
of India prodding Colombo
to finish the war before the
change of government,”
TamilNet said.
Sri Lanka’s war is an
election issue in the Tamil-
majority state of Tamil Nadu,
where India’s ruling Congress
party is keen to maintain
power at a poll tomorrow as
politicians there push for a
separate state for Sri Lanka’s
Tamils. – Reuters
lion) ransom.
The petite Wang
– known for her
braided pig-tails,
mini-skirts and
beloved pet dogs
which she’d take
to boardroom
meetings – later
faced an acrimo-
nious legal battle
with her nonagenarian
father-in-law who accused
her of adultery and murder.
She finally wrested control of
Teddy’s estate in 2005.
Despite her vast wealth,
Wang was famously known
for her self-professed frugal-
ity – rummaging for bargains
in discount clothes stores
and staying in cheap hotels
overseas.
Wang, a grandiose dreamer
who planned to build the
world’s tallest building, later
split the project into two small-
er parts, the taller of which she
named Teddy Tower after her
husband and the shorter one
after herself. – Reuters