THE BEHREND BEACON
Indonesian Military, Militias continue to burn
villages as they withdraw from East Timor
by Doug Struck
The Washineton Post
DILI, East Timor -- The Indonesian
military and pro-government militias
continue to systematically hum vil
lages and towns as they withdraw
from East Timor, officials said Sun
day, as concern grew that U.N.-spon
sored peacekeeping forces and inter
national relief organizations are mov
ing too slowly to impose order out
side the capital.
One weekalter the arrival of the
Australian-led peacekeeping mission,
it has yet to expand its presence much
beyond two landing places, and hu
manitarian organizations have
reached only a few areas of the coun
tryside.
They have not begun to get sig
nificant relief to the vast majority of
the population, or to the hundreds of
thousands of displaced people who
fled rampaging militias following a
U.N.-sponsored referendum Aug. 30
that indicated overwhelming support
for East Timor's independence from
Indonesia.
The cost of that deliberate pace
began to emerge Sunday, as ohserv-
ers on some of the first low-level
flights over regions east and west of
Dili reported that withdrawing Indo
nesian troops or militias, who oppose
East Timor's independence, are torch
ing more of the countryside.
"The burning is still going on. It
is systematic," said Sanjay Sojwal,
World Vision aid official who was on
a helicopter flight to the eastern tip
of the island. He said he saw a de
populated countryside and a succes
sion of towns completely destroyed.
"They had burned the towns --
there weren't even shells of buildings
standing. And then they had moved
out to the villages, which were still
burning, - Sojwal said. "Nothing pre
pared me for that destruction.''
Officials on a U.N. flight to the
west found similar destruction."lt's
clearly a slash and burn polic . y - said
David Wimhurst, a U.N. spokesman.
The peacekeeping troops have
made no mot e to stop the militia ac
Forbes bashes Bush at
California GOP convention
by Cathleen Decker
Los Angeles Times
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Battered by elec
toral losses and beset by financial
woes, California's Republican Party
confronted more dissent Saturday as
presidential candidate Steve Forbes
bashed the party's front-runner,
George W. Bush, and moderates
staged a protest meeting across the
street from the party's official conven
tion here.
Speaking to reporters before he
addressed party delegates at lunch,
Forbes castigated Texas Gov. Bush for
failing to speak out against recent
moves by some of his supporters.
He specifically cited Michigan
Gov. John Engler's decision not to
back a school choice effort and Ten
nessee Gov. Don Sundquist's support
for a tax hike. Forbes said both go -
ernors, who are senior allies of Bush.
were snubbing Republican ideals.
"Leadership is not silence,"
Forbes declared. "It is not well-turned
phrases or cliches or sound bites.
Leadership ultimately comes from
principled substance. That's what I'm
offering."
Yet Forbes himself carefully cali
brated his remarks at the convention.
In front of reporters, he and his asso
ciates indicated that, as far as Bush
was concerned, the glo‘ es were off.
"The governor is using the Oscar
De La Hoya approach," said Forbes
campaign manager Ken Blackwell,
referring to the recently dethroned
boxer. "He's going to try to coast
WORLD AND NATION
tivities outside of Dili. Rather than fan-
ning out across the territory after their
arrival on Sept. 20, the forces have
taken a cautious, incremental approach
to deployment that reduces the chances
of casualties to peacekeeping troops.
"They need to step up the tempo,"
said a British military source. "They
should he moving more quickly and
authoritatively. They have a siege
mentality, and the.y are inexperienced
at this."
The multinational force under the
command of Australian Maj. Gen. Pe
ter Cosgrove is restrained hr its rela
tively small size. He has only about
"They had burned the towns _ there
weren't even shells of buildings standing.
And then they had moved out to the vil
lages, which were still burning."
Sanjay Sol‘kal,
Worlda Vision aid official
3,000 troops on the ground and will
have fewer than 8,000 when the force
is full) deployed.
Cosgrove has moved slow ly to al
low the departure of the main force of
the Indonesian army, whose reaction
to the arrival of the foreign soldiers had
been uncertain. He has done nothing
to try to block the reported flight of
thousands of the military's surrogates.
the militias. into neighboring western
Timor.
"He's probably operating on in
structions: Don't have casualties to his
forces to avoid problems at home, and
don't have a iot of Indonesians dead
to avoid offending the rest of Asia.-
an international aid oft . icial said.
So far, the multinational l'orce has
not fired a shot. and there hat e been
no military casualties. But it tt as not
until the fourth day alter their arrival
that Cosgrove's Ibrces appeared in the
center of Dili, the capital, and the
through the last few rounds, and
we're not going to alloy,. him to do
that.-
But minutes later in front of the
delegates -- many of whom sported
Bush buttons -- Forbes pulled his
punches. He did not mention Bush
apart from an elliptical request that
voters not "settle for politics as
usual."
Forbes' earlier ciimpldint , , \ Ak,ire
"The governor is using the Oscar De La Hoya
approach. He's going to try to coast through the
last few rounds, and we're not going to allow him
to do that."
-Ken Blackwell,
Forbes campaign manager
dismissed h‘ Bush spokesv, ()man
Margita Thompson.
"It is fine for some candidates to
talk about things, but what is impor
tant is Gov. Bush has acted on Re
publican principles and delivered re
sults, such as signing the two largest
tax cuts in Texas history, - she said.
The GOP front-runner did not at
tend the convention. He was invited
to speak at Friday's dinner hut had
already committed to attend the Re
publican National Hispanic Assem-
OCTOBER 1, 1999
peacekeepers have not yet taken con
trol of the access roads that lead to
the nearby mountains where thou
sands of refugees are living on roots
and meager vegetables.
The forces also have secured a
beachhead in Baukau, 70 miles to the
east, hut have not yet moved beyond
the port and airport. No troops have
iioved into the interior of East Timor.
Cosgrove describes his approach
as "methodical. - His plan so far is to
take over small areas Faith large
l'orces to dissuade inn resistance.
Most aid organizations have been
content to follow the military strut-
egy, and say they cannot operate in
areas not yet occupied by the peace
keeping forces.
"We don't want to take the risk
of going by road. We don't want any
more security incidents. We've had
enough of that.'' said Jean-Michel
Monod, the Asia director of the In
ternational Committee of the Red
Cross. which has seen some of its
people attacked.
Aid organisations also say the hu
manitarian crisis is not as acute as
feared. Instead of needing immedi
ate food aid to arrest mass starvation.
the largest aid groups say they have
found their tasks will he more lengthy
and complex. They must reunite
splintered families, resettle an up
rooted population, repair flattened
towns and villages and rehuild the
CCOIIOIIIV
The displaced people reached so
far hy aid workers arc not in a life-
hl) meeting in Washington. On Sat
urday, Thompson said, he attended
the Ryder Cup golf matches at the
invitation of his close friend and
team captain Ben Crenshaw.
For good measure, Forbes also
took aim in an interview at peren
nial Republican presidential candi
date Pat Buchanan, who is contem
plating a third-party hid. This week,
Buchanan came under fire from can-
didate John McCain for suggesting
in a hook that the United States need
not have entered into World War II
,gains! Germany
World War II -
- our participa
- was one of the finest mo
ments in American history," Forbes
said in the interview. "It was true
To think that Hitler bore no
ill will to America is preposterous."
Forbes' drilling of Bush and
Buchanan was only one indication
of dissent at the party's convention.
non In 11. -
threatening condition, as some re
ports from East Timor had sug
gested. However, many are hungry
and subsisting on a poor diet. They
have little medical care, which has
claimed some of the weakest
among them.
"The cemetery has a fresh grave
for a little baby," said the Rev.
Ricardo DaSilva, a Roman Catho
lic priest with the displaced people
in the mountaintop area of Dare, 10
miles from Dili. "Why a baby'? Be
cause she has no good f00d...
But most are surviving, and
some relief agencies say it might he
best to try to teed them in the coun
tryside rather than encourage them
to return to destroyed homes.
"We have to get help up there
to them, and slow the pace of re
turn to Dili," said Symeon
Armadas, the director of the Red
Cross in East Timor. "If they all
came down at once to Dili, it would
exacerbate the problems of food,
water and shelter."
Relief agencies say their biggest
task may he trying to re-knit East
Timor's society.
"The media is focusing on
physical needs -- food, water and
shelter. That is important, but there
are also psychological stresses of
security and what happened to their
families,"Antoulas said. "We need
to start coming to grips with the
problems of tracing relatives. -
Huge numbers of families are
splintered in East Timor because the
men, fearing they would he killed,
fled to the hills, and their families
were then taken to western Timor
hundreds of miles away, where they
are in camps controlled by the mi
litias. Few have returned, and it re
mains unclear it they are free to
leave the camps, or how they would
get hack.
"The aim of the operation in
west Timor would he to get to the
point that the people can really
choose where they want to go,"
Monod said.
The Republican activists gath
ered less than a year after their worst
electoral loss in 40 years, the dev
astating rebuke by California vot
ers in 1998 that cost Republicans all
but two statewide offices, those of
secretary of state and insurance
commissioner. The party remains
$300,000 in debt, even as it plans
an $lB million campaign for GOP
candidates in the 2000 state elec-
More ominously, the torn rela
tions between the party's conserva
tive and moderate camps showed no
sign of mending. Although they
later mingled, delegates began the
day in two camps, with the major
ity of delegates at one hotel and a
much smaller rump group of mod
erates meeting across the street at
another hotel.
PlayStation2
premieres in Tokyo
by Adam Pavlacka
September 20, 1999
San Jose State University
TMS Campus
CPE PHOTO
In horizontal form, the PlayStation2 could easily blend in with a cabinet
full of home theater equipment. The only thing missing is a remote con
trol.
The Tokyo Game Show is a game
player's fantasy. Held annually in To
kyo, Japan. the game show is typically
used for major product announcements
and unveilings by the major game pro
ducers. Sometimes. though, the news
is so big a company just can't wait for
the show to start, so they hold their own
event. Early this week Sony Computer
Entertainment did just that when the
company held a press conference offi
cially announcing the PlayStation2.
Currently scheduled for a Mar. 4, 2000
release in Japan, and a Fall 2000 re
lease in Europe and North America, the
PlayStation2 has the game industry
buzzing. The price for the Japanese
launch is 39,800 yen, or approximately
$370, and it includes the system, one
controller, a memory card and a demo
disc. Current industry speculation ex
pects the North American release to
street between $3OO - $350.
The biggest news regarding the
PlayStation2 is DVD compatibility. 11
has been known since the initial tech
demos that the PlayStation2 would uti
lize DVD-ROM as a standard storage
medium. What was not known, until
now, was whether or not the
PlayStation2 could play DVD Video
The short answer is yes.
Equipped with a plethora °VAN fea
tures, the PlayStation2 promises to be
come the centerpiece of every college
student's home entertainment center.
The unit has a multi-A/V out port,
which will accommodate various video
formats such as RF, composite and S-
Video. Standard audio outs will he pro
vided, as well as a digital out for Dolby
Digital (AC3) and DTS support.
In addition to DVD movies, the
PlayStation2 will also be able to play
music CDs, Play Station game CDs and
PlayStation2 game CDs. Controllers
and accessories designed for the cur
rent Play Station should also work with
the PlayStation2. The backward com
patibility is possible because the origi
nal Play Station CPU is used in the
PlayStation2 as an I/O (input/output)
Gore sharpens his game as
Bradley challenge grows
by Ronald Brownstein
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- With all signs
indicating a tightening race for the
Democratic presidential nomination,
Vice President Al Gore unveiled a
more personal and emotional political
pitch Saturday as he shared a stage
with rival Bill Bradley for the first
time in the campaign.
Using a wireless microphone -- a
la Republican Elizabeth Dole -- and
walking out from behind the podium,
Gore delivered an unusually
passionate speech to a gathering of
the Democratic National Committee
here. "I'm going to work my heart out
to earn your vote," Gore declared at
the outset of a 30-minute speech in
which he spokea at length about his
background, endorsed a long list of
Democratic priorities and lashed out
at GOP front-runner George W. Bush.
Bradley, speaking with reading
glasses perched atop his nose, took a
more measured approach. He
processor. Although Play Station
games will run on the PlayStation2,
they will not be enhanced in any way.
New accessories announced for the
PlayStation2 include a new Dual
Shock 2 analog controller and an 8-
megabyte memory card. The Dual
Shock 2 is different from the standard
Dual Shock in that every button (with
the exception of the start and select
buttons) on the Dual Shock 2 will he
analog, or touch sensitive. This means
that the PlayStation2 will he able to
sense the difference between a hard
smack and a light touch on one of the
buttons. The high capacity memory
card is approximately 64 times larger
than the standard Play Station memory
card. The memory card also provides
digital security measures through a
technology called "Magic Gate."
This will allow the system to he used
14 future e-commerce applications.
Additionally, the PlayStation2 has
USB and i.Link (FireWire/lEEEI39O)
connectors which should allow for
easy connection of standard peripher
als such as a keyboard and mouse.
Currently there is no Internet sup
port out-of-the-box for the
PlayStation2. The system does have a
standard PCMCIA slot on the back,
which can accept a standard PC Card
modem, but Sony is keeping mum on
any browser plans. Sony has not an
nounced any plans for an Internet
browser and neither have any third
parties, although that may change in
the days ahead. Representatives of
Sony said that the company is focus
ing on broadband network connectiv
ity such as cable modems, hut no spe
cifics were announced.
At this point there hasn't been much
software shown for the PlayStation2,
but 46 North American developers
have officially signed on with the plat
form. This is in addition to the 27 Eu
ropean and 89 Japanese developers
also on board. Games of note so far
are Namco's Tekken Tag Tournament
and a new Ridge Racer, Sony' s Gran
Turismo 2000 and Square's Bouncer.
Expect more games to be announced
over the next few days during the To
kyo Game Show.
alternated lyrical descriptions of his
family's small-town roots with
earnest calls for campaign finance
reform and new offensives to reduce
the number of children in poverty and
expand access to health insurance.
Despite the nation's strong economy,
he said, "Our job is not done."
Adding to the drama of the hack
to-hack appearances was a new
Time/CNN poll that showed Bradley
with a narrow lead over Gore in the
critical first primary state of New
Hampshire. Bradley's surprising
early strength in the campaign has
unnerved many Gore backers --
intensifying pressure on the Vice
President to sharpen his
performance.
Both men drew positive'
responses Saturday, but while most
of Bradley's applause came from
young supporters crowded into seats
at the back of the room, Gore
generated several sign-waving
standing ovations from the actual
DNC members in the front.
PAGE 8