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