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EDITORIAL: Ma
administration’s foul-ups mount
When the Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) was appointed, it was said his new Cabinet would
provide peace and security for the nation. With the crises over US beef imports
and the outbreak of H5N2 avian influenza there seems to be a noticeable
breakdown in communication between the government and the public. No one appears
sure about what is going on and consumers have lost confidence in the safety of
beef and chicken products.
There have been meetings on how to proceed at all governmental levels, from the
Presidential Office, to the Council of Agriculture, the Department of Health and
local governments. However, the public has been left completely in the dark, so
these administrative powwows do little to alleviate the confusion. The problems
drag on, unresolved, and the public has started losing faith in the government’s
ability to cope.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) told American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond
Burghardt last month that the “new Cabinet will have a new approach.” No guesses
as to what the administration’s stance is on the matter, then.
The opposition and experts have been arguing the point back and forth, but how
many countries in the world ban imported ractopamine-injected meat? The
government has not been forthcoming about how ractopamine affects cattle and
pigs, or what kind of effect it has on people who consume such meat over an
extended period of time. The government has called many meetings at the
Presidential Office, merely repeating the mantra that its first consideration is
the public’s health and that there is no predetermined stance or timetable in
place.
This prevarication; this inaction; this opacity, is trying the patience of the
public, experts, the opposition and the US. Some pan-blue legislators have even
proposed taking the decision over US beef imports out of the hands of the
Cabinet and making it a legal issue, further restricting the administration’s
control over the decision.
A suspected outbreak of H5N2 avian influenza in chickens was first brought to
the attention of the council in December last year by documentary filmmaker
Kevin H. J. Lee (李惠仁), but it took the council more than two months to act, with
a preemptive cull of tens of thousands of chickens only done recently. There
have been accusations of a government cover-up, Bureau of Animal and Plant
Health Inspection and Quarantine director Hsu Tien-lai (許天來) resigned and
prosecutors have raided the bureau’s offices.
The clinical results regarding the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza
in Taiwan are inconclusive, as infected chickens are still alive and producing
eggs. The council therefore decided to call successive meetings with experts to
discuss the issue, although the public once again had no idea what was
concluded.
Valuable time is being wasted. Academics say that to prevent the mutation of the
virus and to stop it from being transmitted to humans, we should be undertaking
comprehensive testing of farms for virus antibodies. The council only calls more
meetings.
The crux of the problem is something that everyone was aware of even before the
Jan. 14 presidential election: The Ma administration is incompetent with regard
to decisionmaking, communication and governance. It is uncomfortable taking
responsibility. It does not matter how many meetings with experts are held, it
is not going to help dispel the public’s suspicions or fears, or prevent the
collapse of their faith in the government. The premier says the Cabinet
understands the importance of food safety, but when it is being coy with
information and thinks more meetings are the answer to everything, when it
studiously fails to address problems, the public’s ordeal drags on and its
dissatisfaction with the administration grows.
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