scim problem

Hello List, just installed the SuSE 9.2 scim-packages on my 9.0 box. In ~/.profile I export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 and in ~/.xim I export XMODIFIERS="@im=SCIM" instead of the commented out line # export XMODIFIERS="@im=local" (almost at the end of that file). After starting skim (or scim-gtk, doesn't matter, which one I use) and then restarting X, skim appears in the taskbar. But I can't select an input method there. I need to start an application via LANG=ja_JP.UTF-8 <appnam> in order to be able to choose the input method in skim/scim-gtk (for that particular program only). A echo $XMODIFIERS in konsole returns @im=SCIM as expected. What do I have to do to make this work for all apps?