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President should be reined in
Saturday, May 15, 2010, Page 8
“We should establish a ‘Bridle Ma Society’ and then use those bridles to rein in
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) so that he doesn’t run to his own death. We have
already spoiled one president in Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), are we now going to spoil
Ma as well?”
You might think this sounds like something an emotional pro-green supporter
would say, but you would be wrong. These are the words of Chang Hsiao-feng
(張曉風), a well-known author generally revered by the pan-blue camp.
To protect the “lungs” of Taipei City, the wetlands on the site of the 202
Munitions Works in the city’s Nangang District, Chang has written to Ma and even
knelt down in an appeal for Taipei’s environment. Ma nevertheless announced that
the construction of the planned biotechnology park would begin on June 1.
The president of Academia Sinica, the interior minister and the director of the
General Information Office took Chang on a tour of the site in an attempt to
persuade her to abandon her opposition, but she would not be moved.
Regardless of how much the opposition criticizes the government, such criticism
can always be deflected by claiming that it is ideologically motivated political
posturing, but when Chang knelt down in a plea for the environment, it was an
attack on Ma that will soil his image and may even have implications for the
year-end special municipality elections. The impact reaches far beyond anything
the opposition could come up with.
The main point highlighted by the conflict is that the government is losing its
grip on its democratic credentials as it drifts further and further away from
mainstream public opinion.
The same phenomenon can be seen in the government’s push for an economic
cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, completely disregarding
public concerns and the survival of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Although negotiations are not going smoothly at the moment, Premier Wu Den-yih
(吳敦義) has announced that the agreement will be signed next month, which makes it
clear that the government’s promotion of the agreement and the public hearings
currently under way are for cosmetic purposes only — no amount of opposition
will be able to change the fact that the agreement will be signed.
Although Wu keeps talking about the virtues of his “grassroots economy,” he is
not very friendly when he encounters opposition.
In response to opposition to the development of the 202 Munitions Works site, he
asked, “How are we going to develop the economy if we are saving every wetland
in Taiwan?”
It often sounds as if government officials have forgotten that they are elected
by voters to act in their interests as their public servants.
The corrupting influence of power has resulted in government greed and
authoritarian decisionmaking.
The government has repeatedly shown contempt for public opinion and Chang’s
letter and appeal on her knees were in vain. To prevent flawed decisionmaking
from becoming even worse than corruption, it is now time for the public to issue
an even stronger warning to the government.
On the second anniversary of Ma’s inauguration, people should demonstrate to the
government that they don’t want an ECFA.
If the public’s anger fails to alert the government to the fact that it must put
the reins on Ma, then a resounding “no” in a referendum on the ECFA is the only
way to save Taiwan from an irreversible disaster.
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