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EDITORIAL : Taking
responsibility for progress
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) latest campaign trail idea is the prospect of a
“golden decade.” He said he originally decided to run for president because
“Taiwan was going backward, and I am here to save the country.” That might have
washed four years ago, but now he needs to show some action.
These are difficult times in which we find ourselves and perhaps we should have
some pity for the poor man, who has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
How can Ma be expected to worry about matters as small as poor roads, inadequate
disaster response, labored economic growth, high unemployment, a looming
national security crisis, frustrated diplomatic efforts, scant international
space and an unfair judicial system? However, although that there is a
designated government agency to handle each of these issues, it is the president
who needs to assume responsibility for them. The national leader has an effect
on how the nation progresses.
If a country has got to the stage where it needs saving, one would suggest that
what it needs saving from is the current leadership and its policies. At this
point, it appears that Ma is the least qualified to save the country because he
is the main culprit in its current backsliding. No wonder his main presidential
rival, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), has
attacked Ma for saying the country is going backward. As she says, he seems to
have forgotten that he should be taking responsibility.
Ma is attempting to secure a second term on the back of his vision of a golden
decade, a range of policies to push national development over the next 10 years.
A lot can happen in 10 years. Moreover, the electorate should be wary of any
candidate who is willing to write checks so far ahead. They should at least
consider that the checks could bounce.
This is especially true given Ma’s record of honoring campaign promises. The
most obvious example is his notorious “6-3-3” pledge during the 2008 campaign,
of 6 percent economic growth annually, per capita income of US$30,000 and an
unemployment rate lower than 3 percent, all by next year.
There is a long way to go before this pledge can be achieved, but has he
apologized to the voters, saying that the goal was unachievable given the
international and domestic economic situation? No, his campaign team chose to
spin the situation instead, saying the intention was to achieve the 6-3-3 goal
by the end of a second term. What happened to the immediate results promised in
2008?
If you apply this same logic to Ma’s vision of a golden decade, he doesn’t even
need to produce results if he wins a second term. Through this 10-year plan, he
is postponing his judgement by 10 years, a long time after he leaves office at
the end of a second term. This means it will be many years before anyone can
take him to account.
Now how does that make sense? Democratic politics are about politicians laying
out their record and vision so voters can decide whether a candidate is
reliable, honorable and has a plan to move the country forward. Honorable
politicians will reflect on whether they have actually carried out the contract
they made with the public. Disingenuous politicians may be able to fool the
electorate once, but hopefully they won’t find it so easy a second time.
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