Commentary: Asia's Crop Of Damaged Leaders

It's the political aftershock of Asia's economic earthquake: Three years after the region's descent into financial crisis, a leadership crisis is buffeting the region from Bangkok to Tokyo. Now investors are stuck trying to figure out if the upheaval will tilt Asia into yet another business maelstrom--or if the dramas being played out across the region are a necessary prelude to the creation of healthier governments.

The signs aren't encouraging. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, a political mediocrity, has just barely won a no-confidence vote in the Diet. He will likely be replaced by party elders, but that won't make the ruling Liberal Democratic Party any more capable of serious reform. In Indonesia, President Abdurrahman Wahid lurches from crisis to scandal, amid calls for his resignation.