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Taiwanese need to say
‘no’ to poor governance
By Yang Ping-shih 楊平世
During two presidential debates, two platform presentations and countless
campaign rallies, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has cited a lot of numbers and
figures to provide proof of his political achievements. While these figures
appear brilliant at first glance, voters’ sentiment should quickly cool when a
closer look is taken.
The Ma administration has repeatedly made the claim that the per capita income
of Taiwanese has already reached US$20,000 a year. However, this is an income
level that neither Taiwanese university nor graduate school graduates enjoy.
Furthermore, many blue-collar workers who have 10 or 20 years of experience at
their jobs have very low incomes and can testify to the widening income gap.
During the campaign for the 2008 presidential election, someone asked Ma whether
he would be willing to donate part of his salary if he failed to realize his
“6-3-3” policy — annual GDP growth of 6 percent, an unemployment rate of less
than 3 percent and a per capita income of US$30,000.
Now that it has become apparent that this policy has not been achieved,
Taiwanese not only find that the word of their head of state can not be trusted,
Ma has also shifted the focus and says that he often donates money to “certain”
charities.
There is an old saying that “a gentleman always keeps his word,” but since even
Ma’s most basic credibility is questionable, it is difficult to accept all his
attractive figures and flashy new slogans.
After coming to power, Ma rushed to sign the cross-strait Economic Cooperation
Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China. Not only did he not communicate frankly
with the opposition parties, he also used the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT)
legislative majority to push the agreement through the legislature.
There was also an atmosphere of tension and turmoil during the visits by China’s
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin
(陳雲林). Every national flag lining the roads Chen traveled along had to be taken
down and when Ma received Chen, he was addressed as nin (您), the more polite
form of the word “you,” instead of “Mr President.”
Many people were concerned and displeased. Taiwan’s democracy was earned with
the blood and lives of many people. How could the nation sacrifice its dignity
like this?
Since Ma became president, he has pushed for a “diplomatic truce” with China,
used the name “Chinese Taipei” internationally and declared that Taiwan would
apply for World Health Association (WHA) membership under the name “Chinese
Taipei.”
However, an official document from the WHA secretariat still called the nation
“Taiwan, province of China.” Although the large increase in the number of
countries granting visa-waiver privileges for Taiwanese is a great achievement,
quite a few people still suspect that these privileges might have been granted
in exchange for accepting a downgrade to “Taiwan, province of China,” although
the name “Chinese Taipei” is still used for appearance’s sake.
In any democratic country, if a government performs poorly it is at the mercy of
the voters, who are regularly given the chance to strip it of its power. This is
common in Japan and all the EU states, and Taiwan should be no exception.
Therefore, voters should not cast their ballots out of hatred or in tears on
Jan. 14.
We should be happy to vote for the candidate that is the most capable and who
truly cares for Taiwan. Let’s say “no” to incompetence.
Yang Ping-shih is a professor at National Taiwan University’s College of
Bio-Resources and Agriculture.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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