|
|
|
> magazine
|
|
||||
|
|
|||||
|
> magazine |
|||||
|
|
June 16, 2000 VOL. 29 NO. 23 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK Newsmakers
This is the woman liberal-democratic legislative types love to hate in Hong Kong. Secretary for Justice Elsie Leung Oi-sie usually draws the most flack from members of the Legislative Council who want more freedom to introduce bills in what approximates the territory's parliament. She's been a staunch backer of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa who, with Beijing's blessing, doesn't brook such nonsense either. He doesn't feel residents of the SAR are ready for too much democracy just yet and prefers to rely on his de facto cabinet, the Executive Council, for his lawmaking. Still, Leung recruited Jonathan Daw, a former legal adviser to the Legislative Council Secretariat, last September to resolve the standoff. Some saw co-option, others saw a good-faith attempt to resolve the fractious impasse. Now, according to an insider in Leung's department, Daw has come up with a way to give legislators greater leeway to introduce bills. His suggestion: as long as it is mild enough, Legco members will be allowed to put forward legislation relating to government expenditures. Benign, but will the modest step fly in the feisty Legco? Daw made his recommendations to Leung and they have her endorsement and that of most of the Exco. The next step:convince Tung.And Beijing, of course. So What's The Big Deal? For all the talk of his split with Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad, Finance and Special Functions Minister Daim Zainuddin was renamed UMNO party treasurer on June 5. And with the appointment of Mustapa Mohamad to be UMNO's new information chief, Daim is sitting prettier -- and more influential -- than ever. Mustapa started his career as Daim's political secretary some 13 years ago. Now between them they control two of the most powerful administrative posts in the country's dominant political organization. In early May Daim and Mahathir were reported to be at loggerheads over economic reform plans. That's when Mahathir named senior Bank Negara official Nor Mohamed Yakcop as his special adviser on financial affairs and much of the international press (but not Asiaweek) started numbering Daim's days. As for Mustapa -- his new post is not bad for a man who lost his parliamentary seat in November 1999 (he's from Kelantan) and was deemed unemployable by many. And in addition to the UMNO post, Mustapa has also been made an adviser on financial affairs to Mahathir. How Low Can You Go? And to think that opposition parties were angry when PM Mori Yoshiro started considering elections for June 25. Unfair, they cried. The Liberal Democratic Party will run away with the balloting on the back of the sympathy vote for the late PM Obuchi Keizo. Not only was his stroke in April and subsequent death apparently from overwork fresh in voters' memories, the date would have been Obuchi's 63rd birthday. Little did they realize that Mori has a self-destructive vein that runs deeper than the molten lava in Mount Usu. The furor set off by his now-notorious remark about Japan being a "divine nation centered on the Emperor" was only made worse by his attempts to clarify it, apologize for it and then not retract it. Support for his administration dove to 16.7% in May, according to a telephone survey by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. That's down from 36% in April. Support for the LDP fell to 37.5% from 42.5%, while the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan climbed to 15.9% from 13.0%. Now a quarter of local LDP chapters say they don't want the PM to campaign on their behalf. And poor Mori can't even slap his opposition without giving himself a red face. Attacking the Japanese Communist Party's disapproval of the defense forces and the imperial system, Mori said the party threatened Japan's kokutai. The word simply means polity or national system. Unfortunately for Mori, it has hardly been used since World War II, when it described a nation in which the emperor was the father and the people his obedient children. Mori insists that's not what he meant, but critics say his attitude is showing. "We are ashamed to appear before the world as we have a prime minister who does not know the difference between Japan in the past and Japan right now," sniffed Tetsuzo Fuwa, chairman of the Japan Communist Party. Write to Asiaweek at mail@web.asiaweek.com
Quick Scroll: More stories from Asiaweek, TIME and CNN |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| Back to the top |
© 2000 Asiaweek. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. |
|
ASIAWEEK'S
LATEST