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Don’t allow Ma to
drag us all down with him
By Sherry Huang 黃淑純
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was re-elected with both overt and covert help from
Beijing and Washington. Now he is rushing to implement several unpopular and
controversial polices before his inauguration on Sunday. He is pushing an easing
of the ban on imports of beef containing residues of the feed additive
ractopamine, put aside a proposal for a tax on the wealthy, demolished homes in
the name of urban renewal — thus allowing developers to manipulate the
real-estate market — and even pledged his loyalty to China by proposing a “one
country, two areas” (一國兩區) policy.
At the same time, the fuel and electricity price increases have triggered retail
price increases. As the public suffers the effects of inflation, Ma,
surprisingly, said people complain because they do not understand economics.
Faced with such an ignorant and arrogant government that still says it feels
good about itself, the public has good reason to withdraw its support and demand
that Ma step down immediately.
What is the legitimacy behind our demands that Ma step down? Simply put,
dissatisfaction with Ma is supported by a general consensus transcending party
lines and opinion poll differences. According to the results of a poll released
by the Taiwan Brain Trust in the middle of last month, Ma’s approval rate stood
at 18 percent and his disapproval rate stood at 73 percent. The results of
another poll conducted by pro-Ma broadcaster TVBS were quite similar, showing an
approval rate of 22 percent and a disapproval rate of 61 percent. Early this
month, the results of a poll conducted by the Chinese-language Apple Daily also
showed that his approval rate had further dropped to 15 percent, with a
disapproval rate of 71 percent.
Ma claims to be pushing for greater reform in his second term, because the
pressure of running for re-election is gone. However, he hopes to make a
concession to the US on the beef issue, pledged loyalty to the enemy through the
“one country, two areas” statement and has even “robbed” his own people by
raising fuel and electricity prices. Are these his great reforms, moves that
humiliate the nation and damage its sovereignty and the people’s livelihood? The
facts are there for all to see. His administration is completely out of control
and the damage that this unpopular government could inflict on us will not
differentiate between pan-blue and pan-green — it will affect us all.
Ma may be a directly elected leader, but even so, if he acts recklessly and
ignores public opinion and public hardship, it really is another kind of
tyranny. On Sunday, all Taiwanese should take to the streets to manifest our
anger and dissatisfaction in action, and to shock the government. Taiwan is
standing on the edge of a cliff and if we cannot restrain him, the
out-of-control Ma will drag us down with him.
Sherry Huang is a director of the Northern Taiwan Society.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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