JAKARTA: Political crisis has replaced financial crisis in Southeast Asia. President Estrada of the Philippines, who never mastered his office, was removed in a bloodless coup aided by mob rule. Now Indonesia’s President Wahid faces possible impeachment; so, too, may Taiwan’s president. Thailand’s new prime minister assumed office surrounded by scandal, Malaysia’s politics seem more unsettled than at any time in twenty years.
JAKARTA: Political crisis has replaced financial crisis in Southeast Asia. President Estrada of the Philippines, who never mastered his office, was removed in a bloodless coup aided by mob rule. Now Indonesia’s President Wahid faces possible impeachment; so, too, may Taiwan’s president. Thailand’s new prime minister assumed office surrounded by scandal, Malaysia’s politics seem more unsettled than at any time in twenty years.