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This is an archive article published on November 21, 1999

At a glance

Anwar not to stand in Malaysian pollsKUALA LUMPUR: Jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim will not try to contest Malaysia's upcoming...

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Anwar not to stand in Malaysian polls
KUALA LUMPUR:
Jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim will not try to contest Malaysia’s upcoming election because his Opposition party would lose a possible seat should he be disqualified from standing, his lawyer said on Saturday.

"He (Anwar) feels that the risk is not worth it because he can be disqualified on nomination day (Saturday)," said Zainur Zakaria before filing his own nomination in Anwar’s place. "Even if he wins he can also be disqualified," he added.

Zainur denied the last-minute change of strategy was a blow to the opposition National Justice Party, which on Friday had insisted Anwar would try to stand as a candidate in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Lembah Pantai. The party said Anwar’s nomination papers would be filed on his behalf.

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UNAMET chief leaves Dili
DILI:
The violence which destroyed East Timor and turned its people into refugees was not expected by the United Nations mission which organised the referendum on theterritory’s future, the UN’s outgoing mission chief says.

“We didn’t anticipate the degree of violence in general that would break out after the ballot, after the announcement of the result,” Ian Martin said in an interview. “We thought (the violence) would be more limited, more localised,” said Martin who left East Timor on Friday to an emotional farewell by his staff. As head of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), Martin was in charge of implementing the May 5 international agreement that gave East Timorese a historic vote on their future.

In the August 30 vote, 80 per cent of the electorate voted to move towards independence and reject an offer of autonomy under Indonesia, which invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975.

Boris Yeltsin rumbling to go
ISTANBUL:
Western diplomats at the OSCE summit were taken aback not only by how outspoken Boris Yeltsin was as he confronted Bill Clinton and other world leaders, but how hale and hearty he looked in contrast to his frailand bibulous image. “He looks good, his voice is strong. He’s impressively in control. Whatever medication Yeltsin’s on, it seems to be working,” a diplomat said.

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Western governments had not quite bargained for Yeltsin’s robust, defiant mood. But one veteran Kremlin-watcher questioned: “How long it will last?” Striding confidently through the corridors of the Ottoman-era Ciragan palace, overlooking the Bosphorous, a slimmer, tanned and smiling Yeltsin, 68, showed no signs of the ailments that have plagued him. Three years ago he underwent triple bypass surgery. Over the years, embarrassments became almost routine: on his famous transatlantic stopover at Shannon airport in 1994 he failed even to emerge from the plane he was either asleep or inebriated. “Looks like the president has a new battery,” one Russian reporter quipped.

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