The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 1

3 liMffil I 111 1 Hi 1 THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1997 No. 49,834 FIRST PUBLISHED 1831 64 PAGES 90c irj i in Pressure-cooker election explodes in Jakarta streets COLUMN (f'h i 'A Lr Tf iisSsisAi 1 fc MiWMWwwrin'rinwlMwa Eyes of defiance supporters of the United Development Party, bitter opponents of the Soeharto regime, mass for a rally in central Jakarta yesterday. IT WAS cold and rainy in Parramatta yesterday morning, and Clive, who says he's in his 70s and lives under the bridge, was sitting on a bench in the Parramatta Mall. At the other end of the bench was another local old, coatless and shivering. A middle-aged man stopped, saw his plight, took off his jacket and put it on the cold man, buttoning it up.

CLIVE recognised the battered face of the benefactor 25 years ago, when Clive was in Long Bay, the man "put shoes on my kids' It was Trevor King, former boxer, former Salvo, now chaplain to the Westside Mission at Ebenezer. "We've got to help each other," Trevor told Clive. And when we checked the story with Trevor later, he chuckled, "Maybe I've taken one too many punches." THEY MUST be tough kids up in the Clarence Valley. A Maclean real estate agent advertises in his brochure: AFFORDABLE ACRES Over VA acres in established new home area. Safe distance from school.

ON BUNNERONG Road, Mascot, Mark Collison, of Annan-dale, was passed on the inside by a flying tow-truck, which caused another car to swerve. It then crossed in front of Mark to the outside lane and zoomed off. He rang the tow-trucker's company to complain to be told by a woman there: "It's his job to drive that way." DEMOCRACY includes the freedom to seek election to Parliament. On the Internet, Adam Richards, of Wentworth Falls, has found a listing of the 168 parties that contested the UK elections. Ten boring parties won seats.

The rest, with unsuccessful candidates, included: All Night Party (Hayes Har-lington, 135 votes). Common Sense Sick of Politicians Party (Blackburn, 362). Happiness Stan's Freedom to Party Party (Putney, 101). Logic Party Only Truth Allowed (Hertford 126). Miss Money-penny's Glamorous One Party (Tatton, 128).

None of the Above Parties (Hackney North, 368). The Mongolian Barbeque Great Place to Party (Wimbledon, 112). THEY leave the Pauline Hanson One Nation Party and Queensland First for dead. FROM Dr Peter Macdonald, MP for Manly, who took a stroll down Macquarie Street, where he saw this sign. "I thought there were only seven days in a week," he said.

825 BUS RUS PARKING PEKING AREA ktth rfP LIMIT AT OTHER i 15 MiNUi" TIMES LIMIT MORE frugality among our leaders (Column 8, Tuesday). A Waverley resident, given a Christmas bush to plant, received a card of advice from Waverley Council on caring for it signed J. Ball, Town R. J. Ball left the council in 1992, and the title Town Clerk became passe in 1993.

ration cut Mig Coalition firm: no payouts for stolen children may tri pol A DECADE OF FALLING IMMIGRATION 000s 130. 8788 120 110 100 90 80 By LOUISE WILLIAMS Herald Correspondent in Jakarta Two nights after street rallies were banned in Indonesia's election campaign, thousands of youths wearing the green colours of the Islamic-based opposition ere still defying riot police in violent street protests. Embassies warned foreign residents to stay indoors. Fighting broke out when the Government-backed Golkar Party tried to stage an indoor meeting, claiming this was not covered by the ban which the two opposition parties have tried to observe. Golkar supporters arriving in cars and trucks ordered bystanders to give the Golkar salute, and showered them with rocks hen they refused.

The provocative move followed Tuesday night's violent clash in the capital's low-income Cawang district hen supporters of the opposition United Development Party (PPP) tried to stage a march and were stopped by riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Retreating protesters were then attacked by Golkar supporters firing air rifles, the only guns widely available in Indonesia. The hail of pellets and rocks betw een the two groups injured dozens of people and killed one bystander. Every day for a week, bitterness and frustration have exploded on the streets of the capital, initially in campaign rallies for the May 29 election hich offered a rare opportunity to let off steam in a nation which maintains strict controls on political life. The Muslim-oriented United Continued Page 8 Overseas students 'bribed' to switch unis By LUIS M.

GARCIA Higher Education Writer Overseas students studying in Australia are being offered up to $500 to switch universities, a senior academic claimed yesterday. Professor Lauchlan Chip-man, a member of the Federal Government's inquiry into higher education, said poaching was a growing problem which could damage Australia's $3 billion-a-year international education market. He called for a registration system for university agents both here and overseas and for the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee (AVCC) to ban the poaching, mainly of first- and second-year students. Professor Chipman, who is Vice-Chancellor of Central Queensland University, said he knew of recent cases where overseas students at his own university had been approached by agents offering places at other institutions. Some were offered a "bonus" of up to $500 if they moved, and even more if they could persuade others to switch, too.

"There is no way of knowing just how widespread the practice is, but this is something that should concern all universities because these agents act as official representatives of the universities. It has the potential to damage our international reputation." Most universities employ agents overseas who get a commission for every student enrolled usually between $1,000 and $2,500, depending on the course. The agents, most of whom operate in South-East Asia, officially represent the universities, offering prospective students help in getting a visa and in filling in application or enrolment forms. However, the employment of agents in Australia is rare, say most university heads. The director of international relations at the AVCC, Mr Bob Goddard, said it had a code of conduct to ensure that institutions and their agents overseas behaved ethically when recruiting students, but it did not cover poaching.

"We have heard rumours recently about poaching here," he said. "If it is true, then it is something the AVCC would be most concerned about We would have to consider whether we need to strengthen the code in this area." University representatives contacted yesterday said that while there was anecdotal evidence of poaching, the problem was difficult to quantify. Internet www.smh.com.au Home delivery ISSN 0312-6315 Photograph by STEVEN SIEWERT Mr Williams questioned whether it could be proved that the Federal Government was directly responsible, especially considering the standards of the times in which the Aboriginal children were separated from their parents. "It need not follow, therefore, that compensation to those affected will be appropriate or acceptable, even for significant failures or appalling results," he said. Mr Williams criticised as "despicable" statements by the Opposition spokesman on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Mr Daryl Melham.

On Tuesday, Mr Melham said: "There's only one thing missing from this debate, and that's the white sheets and the burning crosses." The executive director of the Kimberley Land Council, Mr Peter Yu, said yesterday: "This Government is about a final solution in terms of doing away with Aboriginal culture and law. "By God, there are going to be dire consequences as a result of this attitude I am shocked and speechless." PAGE 5: Viner attacks Government. PAGE 14: Editorial. PAGE 15: Children's fate demands justice. By MICHAEL MILLETT Political Correspondent The Howard Government plans legislation to give it more power to control immigration, signalling another confrontation with the Senate and providing a potent trigger for an early election.

The move came as Cabinet approved a 6,000 cut in immigration to be borne mainly by aged people seeking to join children in Australia in changes that won the support of the Queensland Independent Ms Pauline Hanson. The Minister for Immigration, Mr Ruddock, said last night that he would push legislation through Parliament including some regulatory measures disallowed by the Senate last year to give him wider controls over the immigration program, It would include the capacity to make citizenship a criterion for sponsoring family members, a new test requiring the majority of family members to be in Australia before parents can enter, and tougher assurances of support from sponsors. Mr Ruddock also foreshadowed other control measures, including revising the points test for skilled migrants to make it harder for applicants in overcrowded professions, such as engineering, to pass. He said the Senate would have to judge the legislation "in the context of other bills in the By JAMES WOODFORD The payment of compensation for the systematic seizure of Aboriginal children and babies, from their parents would be "inappropriate and the Federal Attorney-General, Mr Williams, said last night. In his first public response to a report on the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their parents, Bringing them Home, Mr Williams said it was not possible to condemn the attitudes of the past.

It would be a "distortion of history" to attribute malice to the actions of those responsible for removing Aboriginal children from their parents. Last night the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission called on governments to accept responsibility for the continuing legacy of those policies. But Mr Williams said some of the commission's findings were flawed and that it ran a campaign to promote a presumption of Government antipathy to the report's recommendations. The report found that since European colonisation, young Aborigines were institutionalised, fostered to white families and subjected to severe physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Costello's tax reform pledge Reform of Australia's indirect tax system would be the first priority in the Howard Government's second term, the Treasurer, Mr Costello, said yesterday.

He said he backed a tax summit and called on the ALP to take part PAGE 27: Full report. Sex discussion angers parents Parents have complained that 30 Bankstown Girls' High School students attending a "health education" camp were taught explicit details about sex, without parental permission. PAGE 3: Full report. Melbourne to get league team Super League will launch a team in Melbourne next season after talks last night between the chairman of News Ltd, Mr Ken Cowley, and the Victorian Premier, Mr Kennett. A Sydney club may be asked to move south, PAGE 46: Full report because of their heavy use of publicly-funded, services like Medicare and nursing care, and their lack of employability.

The impact will be felt most significantly in the Asian community, by far the biggest user of the family reunion provision. Ms Hanson claimed yesterday that the Cabinet move recognised the widespread community support for her anti-immigration views. The chairwoman of the NSW Ethnic Communities Council, Ms Angela Chan, criticised the cuts and the use of unemployment to justify it, accusing the Prime Minister of using Ms Hanson as an excuse to run "his own conservative extreme But Mr Ruddock denied that the 6,000 cut had anything to do with Ms Hanson, saying it was driven by high unemployment and the need to run a smaller, more tightly focused program to "restore public confidence" in the immigration system. "The reason for the cuts in parents is, very clearly, because of the high unemployment levels in that category," he said. "These people are older, not able to access employment, imposing significant costs on the community, and are not delivering a substantial economic benefit." PAGE 4: Families to suffer; Wait for benefits causing 'absolutely dire hardship'.

people responsible," he said. "As the deadline for the abductors' demands has now expired, communication with those people has apparently broken down and ceased. Police and the victim's husband hold grave fears for her safety." Mr Harvey appealed for the kidnappers to make contact again so Mrs Whelan's release could be negotiated. The police also appealed to the public to help trace Mrs Whelan's movements. "We would like to speak to anyone who has seen Mrs Whelan outside the hotel," Mr Harvey said.

He said it was possible she had driven to Parramatta for an appointment with a hairdresser, beautician or skin specialist. "We would like to hear from any person in the community Continued Page 7 THE NEW TARGET Family reunion down 12,950 to 32,000 same This was a clear reference to the Government's threat to use tampering by the Senate with unfair dismissal laws and with the still-to-be drafted Wik legislation as triggers for a double dissolution election. The 1997-98 immigration intake, released by Mr Ruddock, continues the Government's strategy of paring back family reunion numbers and putting more emphasis on skilled migration citing community concern in a climate of high unemployment While the number of refugee and humanitarian places has been kept constant at 12,000, the By RICHARD MACEY and ANDREW CLENNELL It was 16 days ago that Mrs Kerry Whelan, the wife of a wealthy Sydney company director, drove her silver Land Rover into the underground car park of Parra-matta's Parkroyal hotel. Mrs Whelan, a 39-year-old mother of three, is believed to have left her keys with a parking attendant about 9.40 am, saying she would be back soon. She walked outside into Par-ramatta's Phillip Street, never to be seen again.

Her husband, Mr Bernard Whelan, reported her missing after she failed to meet him as planned at 3.45 pm. Yesterday, police finally lifted a six-day media blackout on news that Mrs Whelan had been kidnapped for ransom and that they now feared for her safety. However, they refused to 'Grave fears' for kidnapped woman mm 9788 9394 Special eligibility down 660 to 740 non-humanitarian program has been cut from 74,000 to 68,000, on top of an 8,560 cut the previous year. The reduction is reserved mainly for family reunion numbers, now down to 32,000 nearly half what it was in the last year of the Keating Government. While there have been slight changes to all parts of the preferential family category which covers close family members the brunt of the cuts will fall on parents, with the number of places cut from 6,000 to 1,000.

This is because parents are seen as the second most expensive part of the program after refugees discuss the amount of the ransom demand, how contact with the kidnappers had been organised, or the nature of Mr Whelan's business. Police briefed journalists on the case last Thursday, requesting that none of the information be published as "lives could well be at risk if something goes Detective Chief Superintendent Rod Harvey, Commander of the State Major Incident Group, said yesterday that all contact with the kidnappers had been lost and that the ransom deadline had passed. He confirmed Mr Whelan had "received a ransom demand for a substantial amount of money for his wife's safe "Mr Whelan endeavoured to meet certain conditions of that demand but there has been no further contact with those TOMORROW Sydney The chance of a shower. South to south-easterly winds with a maximum of 19. NSW: Showers and patchy rain.

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Kerry Whelan police say ransom deadline has passed. Call 13 33 30 0 Advance Bank WEATHER today Sydney 13 to 19. Eariy showers. Cool and mostly cloudy. Moderate winds.

Crosswords 25 Opinion 15 PHONE Features 11 Personal notices 34 20-24 Law notices 41 Sport 4246 Editorial ..92822822 12,13 Letters 14 Stay in Touch 26 Classified 27-33 $2 Lottery 6256 19 Television 26 132535 index 46 Obituaries 34 World 8-10 General. ...9282 2833 www.advance.com.au Liverpool 12 to 19. Richmond 11 to 19. NSW: Showers or patchy rain throughout. Thunderstorm in the far west.

Cool to mild. Sunrise 6.45 am Sunset 4.58 pm. u- 1.