Hata's elusive dream

JAPAN'S prime minister-designate, Tsutomu Hata, is probably a disappointed man. His dream was to lead a cohesive conservative-reformist administration backed by a single political party capable of diminishing corruption and pursuing economic deregulation.

There has been little progress towards this dream amid the political machinations of the past two weeks. It could materialise - but not yet. Mr Hata instead finds himself leading a diverse and fractious coalition treading water in a political whirlpool. Four of the five last prime ministers have left office discredited. Only two of seven living ex-PMs are untainted by corruption.

It might have been better had the coalition chosen an unknown leader out of the blue. The implication for Japanese politics is clear - only those who never pursue high office are likely to be Mr Clean.

Mr Hata would appear to have several handicaps. Kakuei Tanaka, the founder of money-politics, was a mentor. Mr Hata served in the Takeshita-Kanemaru faction which carried on where Tanaka left off, thereby landing itself at the heart of Japan's biggest recent scandals. More to the point, the Liberal Democratic Party yearns for one more election under the old rules. It no doubt will be trying its hardest to promote a restoration by doing to Mr Hata what was done to Morihiro Hosokawa.

Unlike Mr Hosokawa, Mr Hata will not give up easily. As a professional politician he has probably not been so cavalier with his finances. He is more experienced in the problems of administration than Mr Hosokawa and he has an inner toughness which Mr Hosokawa seemed to lack.

The first requirement now is that the coalition hangs together, the Budget gets passed and that some efforts be made to reform the economy in ways that diminish tensions with the United States. In the short term, Mr Hata's weakness of tending to be all things to all men may be, in the coalition context, a strength.