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Ma’s horseplay gains
few friends
By Liu Shih-chung 劉世忠
What separates a great statesman from a common politician is the capability to
forge reforms with strong determination and skills of political communication.
The so-called “presidential legacies” are earned, not defined solely by a
sitting president.
Regretfully, what Taiwanese and the international community have witnessed in
the past couple of months, following President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election
on Jan. 14, is exactly the opposite story.
Ever since his electoral victory, Ma has pledged to create his “historical
legacies” by initiating a series of aggressive, but controversial reforms,
including the government’s announcement of a conditional re-opening to imports
of US beef, the increase of electricity rates for all sectors to reflect soaring
energy costs and to reduce losses at Taiwan Power Co, as well as a tax on
capital gains on securities transactions.
Ma displayed strong determination to push forward those reforms by emphasizing
the need to do them “at one time.” Local media close to the Chinese Nationalist
Party (KMT) reported that the Ma administration intends to “clear the
battlefield” before the inauguration ceremony on May 20.
The idea of taking advantage of the popularity and legitimacy of a newly elected
president to launch reforms is politically understandable. Even if such moves
create a public backlash, at least Ma has four more years to jump over potential
political hurdles and distract public dissatisfaction.
Nevertheless, as most recent public polls show, Ma’s unilateral decision to
implement those reforms as early as possible runs the risk of underestimating
the public backlash.
Bold initiatives require sincere communication, comprehensive persuasion and
effective implementation. Aggressive policies announced and implemented without
careful weigh-in of public reaction and feasibility are nothing but arrogance
and egocentrism. This reflects Ma’s isolated decisionmaking style and poor
leadership.
The results have been miserable. Across the political spectrum in Taiwanese
society, all public polls have demonstrated a sharp decline of Ma’s approval
rating over the past three months from the 51.6 percent support he garnered from
voters in the January presidential election. At least three polls conducted by
local television broadcaster TVBS, the Taiwan Brain Trust think tank and the
Chinese-language Wealth Magazine have indicated that Ma’s disapproval rate is
now hovering between a dismal 15 and 19 percent. Public support for Premier Sean
Chen and his Cabinet reflects the same political dilemma.
What’s even worse is that in the face of overwhelming public dissatisfaction, Ma
flip-flopped again on the decision of raising electricity rates — initially set
for tomorrow — and replaced it with a three-stage measure. The about-face
illustrated Ma’s miscalculation of public opinion from the very beginning and
his failure to justify his insistence of raising the rate all at once.
The greatest enemy usually comes from the rear. Facing serious governing
problems, the KMT-dominated legislature, under pressure from individual
constituencies, was on a different page on issues regarding the relaxing of
restrictions on US beef imports and the capital gains tax on securities
transactions. After some KMT lawmakers refused to endorse the US beef motion and
to place the Cabinet’s version of the capital gains tax proposal on the
legislative agenda, the party and the Cabinet had no choice but to exercise
party discipline in the legislative branch. It once again highlights a lack of
internal coordination between the Presidential Office, the Cabinet and KMT
legislators.
It is fair to say that Ma is a lame duck and will be inaugurated in an
embarrassing situation. With Ma getting off to such a bad start, how can the
public really expect him to counter more domestic and external pressures in the
next four years?
One danger embedded in a domestically “weak” president is the tendency to be too
progressive on external relations. That explains why both Taiwanese and the US
felt “surprised” when Ma sent former KMT chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄) to Beijing
to raise the concept of defining the cross-strait relationship as “one country,
two areas (一國兩區).”
Such a move contradicted what he said during the campaign — that he would not
seek negotiations on political issues or a peace accord with Beijing during his
second term. It once again displayed his “black box” decisionmaking style in
this sensitive and crucial policy area.
If Ma continues to ignore the public’s voice, overlook public persuasion, obsess
with “one-man” decisions and overplay cross-strait relations to distract
domestic pressure, his presidency will put Taiwan in great jeopardy.
Liu Shih-chung is director of the research center at the Taipei-based Taiwan
Brain Trust.
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