A disappointing meeting

A disappointing meeting

As had been expected, the meeting on Thursday between President Abdurrahman Wahid and the House of Representatives turned out to be not very productive, even though House members, particularly PDI Pejuangan and Golkar Party representatives, bombarded the President with pointed questions that gave the session a somewhat tense atmosphere.

The President's stated reasons for dismissing two of his cabinet ministers (Industry and Trade Minister Jusuf Kalla and State Minister of Investment and State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi) contradicted the ones he told them.

From what has transpired since the meeting, we are getting the impression that Gus Dur (Abdurrahman) lacks consistency and looks for easy justifications. This can be risky and can hurt the nation's economic recovery program.

We call on the government -- President Abdurrahman in particular -- not to waste time and energy, which could worsen this nation's economic predicament. Too many opportunities have already been lost.

The longer the current crisis continues, the more difficult it will be to surmount it, especially if the government continues to waste whatever opportunities it has to put the economy back on track.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta