<B>By Deepa BHOOKHUN</B>

I?m highly amused by the rhetoric that ministers and MPs repeat ad infinitum ? ?appointing ministers is the prerogative of the Prime minister?. Of course, they only pay lip service to it and we all know this but it?s still funny to see them put on a serious expression on their faces as they try to convince whoever they are talking to, that they mean every word of this empty expression.

Of course, the appointment of ministers is the prerogative of the Prime minister ? gee thanks for reminding us, silly people that we are!

Then why, I wonder, are we hearing so many expressions of discontentment, of frustration and of anger?

Let?s not be too harsh ? I suppose it?s legitimate for people to desire a promotion, to want to earn more money (earn being the operative word, if you know what I?m on about), to have what is known as status and so forth. Those feelings, those desires are legitimate; aspirations and ambition in the normal course of life are legitimate feelings.

But, as in everything in life, the reasons behind are as important, if not more important, than the desire itself because it?s the motivation that will make the aspirations legitimate or not.

So why did so many MPs want to be ministers? Why were the current ministers so terrified they would lose their jobs? What does it mean to those freshly appointed ministers to have finally been chosen to sit in a chauffeur-driven car and be called ?honourable minister??

You know how when you?re little and grown-ups try to make conversation with you and they ask you: ?So what do you want to be when you grow up?? I?m sure this must have happened to our politicians as well. Presumably they were also cute little guys or girls to whom grown-ups wanted to make conversation to.

I wonder how many of the Members of Parliament (MPs) said they wanted to grow up to be MPs. I wonder how many of them dreamt they would one day become a cabinet minister?

I wonder how many dreams got shattered last Friday. I bet none or very few of them.

Knowing our dear politicians, it?s hard to believe that when they were still innocent, they replied ?minister? to the question ?what do you want to be when you grow up?? and that they did so because they have been told that being a minister is only a means to achieving a much nobler objective ? that of working for the greater good.

Oh well. I really should have my head examined. Really, what am I on about? People don?t believe in those things anymore. Nowadays, we believe that people should be appointed ministers if they were born of a family that practises a certain religion, we firmly believe in a system of quota, we believe that we deserve ministerial appointments so that we can make money and so that we can pander to our disproportionately large egos.

And that?s not empty rhetoric.