All-star cabinet, minimum results

All-star cabinet, minimum results

There have been increasingly vociferous demands that the present Cabinet, for a variety of reasons, be reshuffled. Some suggest that the economic, political and security teams be revamped, while others want only the economic team to be changed.

Nevertheless, President Megawati Soekarnoputri has turned a deaf ear to the demands. Now in her second year as President, she is sticking with her current Cabinet.

Obviously, this Cabinet was formed on the basis of compromise. When it was first announced, people called it the Dream Team, just like the AC Milan soccer club in its heyday.

With the passage of time, its performance has made people change its name from the Dream Team to the Dreaming Team. The Cabinet members are simply dreaming: Too much debate and too little action.

If a team full of star players lose a match, who is to blame? The manager. You don't need to be a superstar to be a good manager. Many successful managers in soccer used to be just mediocre players. But as managers they are effective.

Regarding our country, the manager -- President Megawati -- does not have the luxury of time to keep changing her team. She has only two years left before the general election.

So, the achievements have been minimal but, like it or not, these minimal results must be maintained. Why? There is no guarantee that revamping the Cabinet will lead to an improvement. Everybody must patiently wait until 2004, when a higher standard should be set. - Media Indonesia

Rejection of PM candidate may cause instability

The South Korean parliament, now dominated by the opposition party -- the Grand National Party -- has for the second time rejected the second prime ministerial candidate put forward by President Kim Dae-jung of the Millennium Democratic Party.

The candidate, Chang, the owner of newspapers and other businesses, allegedly failed to pay tax on a land transaction, while Mrs. Chang, the first candidate, was allegedly involved in a real estate scam.

It seems, however, that the two candidates have been rejected as revenge against Kim's party, which has made an issue of conscription avoidance on the part of the son of the opposition party's presidential candidate. The opposition party is trying to cause trouble for the ruling party in the face of the upcoming election. It has also successfully exploited the involvement of President Kim's two sons in corruption.

Under South Korea's political system, the prime minister can stand in for the president when the latter is ill. Lately, President Kim has reportedly been suffering from a lung infection.

Clearly, the political ripples generated by the battle for the position of prime minister may sooner or later disadvantage the South Koreans as they may cause political instability. - Kompas