« Barack Obama | Main | Removing fuel subsidies... and the obscene sin »

100th Day... and the gloomy Cheong Wa Dae

I rode into Seoul yesterday to mark the 100th Day in office for President Lee Myung-bak.

Today, local by-election is being held in 52 constituencies in South Korea.

It's also my second trip in two years to South Korea, a before-and-after kind of de javu as I witnessed political change in Korea.

Last March, when I was a guest of LG in Seoul, I was in praise of President Lee's midas touch in the Cheonggye Stream restoration project. Lee was the then Seoul mayor, from July 2002 to June 2006, before he quit to prepare for his presidential campaign.

NOT ALL ROSY PICTURES

To be frank, not everything is rosy for President Lee as his honeymoon expired and it's all gloomy at Cheong Wa Dae.

Former presidents have published booklets promoting their policies to mark their 100th day in office. There is no such booklet this year.

Lee's approval ratings have plummeted to just over 20%, according to an opinion poll conducted by The Hankyoreh and Research Plus on May 31.

He lost a whooping 27.2% points compared to the 49.4% recorded on March 1.

The Gallup Korea poll pointed to a somewhat similar outcome.

It's hard to imagine his approval rating could have fallen faster than that of any other South Korean president in their first 100 days in office, for this is the man who won the presidential election by the widest margin in the country's history.

Among the poll respondents who had voted for Lee in the presidential election in February, 57.7% responded that Lee was not managing the nation well. It could mean that the CEO-turned-politician cannot run a country like a corporate entity.

Observers here blamed his clumpsy way tn ( 1 ) handling the beef imports from the US, suspended since 2003 due to the mad cow scare; ( 2 ) bad selection of top aides -- the "troublesome deputies" -- who are largely intellects with no experience in governing; and ( 3 ) the over-zealous cross-counry canal system that people don't welcome to account for the popularity slide.

Some blamed it to his advocacy for the privatisation of medical insurance as another factor for the popularity erosion.

May 22, President Lee had to apologise to the nation for the misgivings, in less than 100 days after the launch of his administration.

The Korea Times says Lee's predicament reveals real limits in democracy and capitalism. The paper also attributes expectations gap that leads to colossal disappointment with Lee.

OUR 100 DAYS...

Back home, Penang and the new state governments will cross the 100th Day hurdle in days. And our pledge for local elections is still in tatters and titters.

Food for thought if President Lee is a good page in history. Incredibl, Lee was Hyundai's project manager for the Penang Bridge back in those days when Tun Lim Chong Eu was the then chief minister.

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.jeffooi.com/mt32/mt-tb.cgi/2406

Comments

Bad thing will go, good thing shall come. We wish for the Best!

JobsBroadway.com @ Malaysia Most Trusted Jobsite.

Hi Jeff Ooi,

Yes, it's amazing how fast people changed their mind. And yes I think the state government has a lot of undone stuff to deal with... Just to name a few: PGCC fiasco, Land scam when-to-announce-public, Second bridge so-how-expensive-will-it-be, Transportation program when-will-it-be-drafted, Local election what-action-has-been-taken, Asset declaration no-more-berita-sudah...

Sometimes people just can't wait... We all want something to be done... we all want to wake up tomorrow morning and feel good... heck, I wish I could wake up tomorrow morning knowing that the UMNOputras got struck by lightning and died... and Malaysian won't have to pay RM2.7 for their fuel with Petronas' funding unknown...

Too much things, too little time... that's a steep learning curve hah? Anyway... If you can't do it now, tell us what and when you can do it... I guess people will be more comfortable and confident like this...

Hi Jeff,

Must be a sobering experience in South Korea for you, eh? Back home I think we shouldn't expect too much with the PR state govts. We have to be realistic . After all the euphoria and excitement of winning it is indeed a challenge to govern in a way that's totally different from the previous administration. We all could learn a thing or two from South Korea's president approval ratings and try our best not to fall in this "trap" of high expectation followed by major disappointment and finished with another political uncertainty..

First and foremost, I just wonder, who pays for your trip to Seoul? Is this personal or paid by Penang government? What is your purpose in Seoul anyway?

JEFF OOI says: Textbook aside, you have one other option, though. Sit still, do nothing to market your state economy, and wait for investment and FDI to drop from the sky. Meanwhile, let Singapore and Vietnam, and anything in between, zoom past us in in-bound investment. That empty waiting won't cost you any money. It will just rob your future and that of your kids. We'd rather spend a little money to chase after some investments to come ashore. We will keep trying.

Just curious as DAP itself questioned government servants going abroad when the opposition should be transparent about this as well. Double standard NATO if that is true. Going abroad anyway is good to open up your eyes... so I am not displeased anyway if politician goes abroad for a genuine purpose.

By the way, many Koreans dont think Lee MyeongBak is sincere in his apologies but just a show of face to the public. But Koreans were not quite deceived, action speak for itself and soon after his apologies turned to lies. And the whole ruckus of demonstration erupted. Now president lee is in a political dilemma.

So please dont give too much respect at face value when you have no respect to our beloved Malaysia. President Lee promised 7% yearly growth to win the election but its hardly close to that figure. North Korean ties have deteriorate as a result to ass kissing to Mr Bush. And canal project is secretly moving ahead without consultation with the people. You give me the impression that he is a great leader but hard to believe that so many people dislike him now. Bias.

Grow up jeff. I dont see DAP or PKR or PAS being that transparent at all. Only for Selangor I can see better governance. Lim Guan Eng is to me like a small kid just trying to act like a boss. Stop blaming and start working. There is too much blame game going on by the opposition.

By the way, high oil price is affecting the world at large. Malaysians should learn to live with it. We learned to be wasteful ever since we were young...I blame UMNO politicians (like Toyo) for leading this lifestyle. Ideals like recycling, forest preservation and honesty are not truly practiced. Damn you politicians of Barisan and Opposition.

This Ibrahim Ali, cant believe PAS actually try to invite him when he actually travel oversease with his business partners go gambling, womanizing and drinking. Ask him or his business partners. And these are the people who are fighting for your rights.

So tell me, what have you done so far Jeff... I as a rakyat have now a right to ask you... why dont you ask your secretary to publish your schedule and your actions if thats the transparency that you have been always advocating? Your writings has been so much criticism on the other party... Now I want to know what have you done!

JEFF OOI says: You can keep talking your talk, while I will just keep working, staying close to my political agenda that prompted me to give BN a run for its money in the first place. No quick fix, just long haul from now on. Give me 10 years, and I will stop struggling and get back to my family whom I have started to neglect... and miss a lot.


Lee won a loser's game. In the GNP primary, he beat a woman - Park Guen Hye. And everyone in Korea was tired of Roh and needed a change.

Lee won a loser's game. In the GNP primary, he beat a woman - Park Guen Hye. And everyone in Korea was tired of Roh and needed a change. So his demise is not to be unexpected.


Jeff,

goodday!!

i have left your blog for quite sometime. coming back now....

i started blogging after reading your article 'Desperate Housewives'. Good and juicy story line. However, after so much of media publicity, i do not see any further action on this issue again? you have move on to other more strenuous and forget about this issue?

I hope you don't mean to give up now. Well, as what i have suggested earlier, after an issue had been published/exposed, do not let it cold down. May be to start with PR: create/develop a follow-up mechanism and let those issues be kept under constant exposure to remind the rakyat how long a particular issue had been exposure and what is the current status.

I hope Jeff is unlike other politikus who likes to 'forget' an issue after getting enough publicity and then shift to other more report-worthy issues to get publicity but deliver nothing at the end of day!

More than 100 days now. the rakyat are assessing and everyone's performance is being monitored. do not forget PR promises to the rakyat during campaign that PR will make changes to the present delivery mechanism.

OR, PR is now waiting to change the government before you can deliver? What if that does not happen? I do hope that to happen soon to cut short everybody waiting time and to move on to a new era!

Cheers!

INTERNET does not operate in a legal vacuum.
Read this before you post a comment in this blog!

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)