SEPTEMBER 18, 2000 VOL. 156 NO. 11

Milestones
BY PENNY CAMPBELL

DIED. ABDUL HARIS NASUTION, 81, retired Indonesian general who was one of the main architects of dwifungsi, the policy that allows the armed forces to play an active role in politics; in Jakarta. A hero of the war of independence from Dutch colonial rule in the 1940s, Nasution narrowly escaped death in 1965 when six other generals were assassinated in what the army claimed was a communist-inspired plot. The anti-communist pogroms that followed saw an estimated 500,000 people killed and led indirectly to Suharto's rise to power. Nasution was one of the main proponents of a 1958 bill legalizing the armed forces' participation in politics, a role that is only now being dismantled.

DIED. EDWARD ANHALT, 86, Oscar-winning screenwriter who claimed to hate the craft of writing but to love the money and fame; in Los Angeles. Anhalt, who won Academy Awards for his work on Panic in the Streets in 1950 and Becket in 1964, said he would do practically anything to avoid writing. Nonetheless he enjoyed a successful Hollywood career for more than 50 years.

DIED. C. K. TANG, 98, retail magnate who was the epitome of Singapore's rags-to-riches immigrant story; in Singapore. Tang, whose full name was Tang Choon Keng, arrived from China in 1923 with two tin trunks of embroidered linen that he sold door-to-door. His company C.K. Tang, set up in 1932 with less than $2,000, is now worth nearly $21 million. The son of a Presbyterian minister, Tang was profoundly influenced by religion and credited the success of his business empire to honesty.

DIED. ROY FREDERICKS, 58, Caribbean cricketer considered one of the most exciting opening batsmen of all time, of cancer; in New York City. Fredericks played 59 Tests for West Indies, making his debut in 1968. During his 20-year career, he scored more than 4,000 runs. Following his retirement he became Sports Minister in his native Guyana.

RETIREMENT ANNOUNCED. OF MARJORIE ("MO") MOWLAM, 50, whose courage and candor made her one of the most popular members of the British cabinet, from Parliament; in London. First elected in 1987, Mowlam was appointed Northern Ireland Secretary after the Labour Party's landslide victory in 1997. Her outspokenness on political issues and bravery during treatment for a brain tumor won the approval of voters, but she never earned the trust of the Protestant Ulster Unionist Party and was moved to the obscure position of Cabinet Office Minister last year.

BEATIFIED. PIUS IX, obscurantist and ultra-conservative 19th-century Pope who promulgated the doctrines of papal infallibility and the Immaculate Conception; in Vatican City. The beatification--the final step before sainthood--was opposed by liberal Catholics and Jews who accused Pius IX of anti-semitism because he had once called Jews "dogs" and approved the kidnapping by papal police of a six-year-old Jewish boy, to be raised as a Catholic.

TIME CAPSULE
The last time the Olympics came to Australia the cold war heated up on the tracks and fields of Melbourne. For the 10,000 athletes from 200 countries competing in Sydney this year, the stakes will be more personal than ideological. "The spectacle of 4,500 athletes from 68 countries marching in bright parade to begin the games of the 'XVI Olympiad of the modern era' in Melbourne's Olympic stadium could not erase international frictions and political embarrassments. . . Competitors who had traveled half around the world to test their grace and strength and speed and skill looked up at a bold white sign on the big scoreboard and smiled at its airy warning: 'Classification by points on a national basis is not recognized.'. . From the opening shot of a starter's gun, they got off to a crowd-pleasing start, and Olympic records fell like eucalyptus leaves. And scorekeeping or no, it quickly became a suspenseful duel between the U.S. and Russia." --TIME, Dec. 3, 1956