ed Cronies and confidants

Drastic change needed in picking public agency chiefs

For many heads of state companies and public organizations here, June, not April, is the cruelest month of the year. That is when the government issues its annual report cards for nearly 100 chairmen and presidents of state-run or invested corporations and institutions, assessing who must go and who will remain.

Most noticeable in the evaluation of managerial performances in 2012, unveiled Tuesday, was a setback for energy-related firms. Firms responsible for developing oil, coal and mineral resources at home abroad got the lowest "E” grade, and were told to replace their heads.

The companies competed to conduct projects overseas to develop energy sources and diamonds to realize the "philosophy” of former President Lee Myung-bak’s "resources diplomacy,” but largely ended up wasting huge amount of taxpayer money. This illustrates what could happen when these cronies-turned-CEOs blindly follow the order of the person who appointed them, in a show of excessive loyalty.

And that also explains why most people tilted their heads when President Park Geun-hye recently cited "sharing of the same administrative philosophy” as a key condition for naming the chiefs of state enterprises.

These were exactly the same words former President Lee said when he kicked out the heads of public corporations named by his predecessor.

To her credit, President Park has refrained from being directly involved in the appointment of state-invested firms and organizations, leaving it to a panel led by her chief of staff, and relevant Cabinet ministers. But the president’s hands-off stance has resulted in her aides and secretaries playing asses in lion’s skins as well as the "occupation” of state enterprises by bureaucrats, forcing Park to call for a temporary halt to the appointment process.

It would be realistically hard to expect a President not to meddle in the filling of the top posts of state firms and public agencies because these organizations are the tools to implement the leader’s policies. But the President needs to minimize his or her interventions. Even when he or she interferes in the process, the chief criteria should not be the "same philosophy” ― which most voters find synonymous to cronyism ― but the candidates’ ability, namely expertise in the job and passion for renewal.

The time has long past for Presidents to regard the high posts of public agencies as trophies to reward their cronies and campaign contributors. Behind most problems of state firms, including snowballing debts, are lamentable choices with thin resumes and zero experience in their respective fields. People have strong doubts, with good reasons, to think that the personnel recommendation committees and even the yearly evaluation of job performances are just perfunctory devices to justify predetermined and unqualified appointees.

Strict, fair and objective assessment should take the place of cronyism and personal favoritism in running state firms and agencies, especially at a time when their combined debt approaches half of the nation’s GDP. Leaders should make them compete, among themselves and with their foreign counterparts.

We hope that President Park’s philosophy is to become the first such leader.