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After two years, what do people think of
Ma?
By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, May 20, 2010, Page 3
For the second anniversary of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration, the
Taipei Times canvassed opinion on the street and found that those who did not
vote for Ma in 2008 said they now had more reasons to oppose him, while many of
those who supported him two years ago have become disillusioned, accusing him of
failing to fulfill his promises and allowing a lack of transparency in
decision-making.
“I’m very disappointed at the deterioration of democracy and the sovereignty
crisis in the country,” Tsai Ya-ju (蔡雅如), a graduate student at Kaohsiung’s
National Sun Yat-sen University, told the Taipei Times.
She said that she was worried about the deterioration of democracy because the
government makes major policy decisions behind closed doors instead of allowing
the public to take part and voice their opinions.
“For example, what do we know about the government’s plan to sign an economic
cooperation framework agreement (ECFA)? As citizens, we know nothing and can
only follow whatever ‘Fuhrer Ma’ says,” Tsai said.
When it comes to participating in international events such as the 2008 Beijing
Olympics, “everything indicating our sovereignty disappears,” she said.
Tsai said that although she was skeptical about Ma and did not vote for him, she
never thought things she worried about two years ago would become a reality in
such a short time.
Tsai’s classmate Chuang Chen-yang (莊程洋), a native of Nantou County, held similar
views.
“Whether it’s lifting the ban on imports of certain US beef parts or signing an
ECFA with China, we are only informed after the decisions are made,” Chuang
said. “The government promised to tell us more about an ECFA, but all we see is
propaganda — I still don’t know what exactly is in the ECFA that the government
so desperately wants to sign.”
Chuang said he did not expect policy decisions to be made so arbitrarily when Ma
took office two years ago.
“I thought, you know, even if a political party is in control of both the
executive and the legislature, a democratically elected government would not be
so arbitrary,” he said.
Asked if Ma has done anything that he approved of during the past two years,
Chuang pondered for a short while and said: “If you really want me to think of
something that Ma’s done well — well, I’d have to say that he did a lot of good
things for the very big corporations.”
“Well done, President Ma,” he said.
Chen Chien-hao (陳建豪), a Taipei-based massage therapist, said he had yet to see
any of the profound changes that Ma had promised during his presidential
campaign.
“The unemployment rate is still bad, wages did not go up and the economy did not
improve,” he said. “I thought the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would be good
at boosting the economy, but I just don’t see it.”
The government, he said, has yet to respond to several demonstrations launched
by massage therapists at traditional medical clinics calling for professional
certification, “but the government is quick to adopt bills that benefit big
corporations.”
Tsai Chia-lin (蔡佳霖), a social worker in Changhua County who voted for Ma two
years ago, also criticized Ma for what he said was accomplishing nothing.
“I voted for Ma because I was very disappointed with former president Chen
Shui-bian’s [陳水扁] performance. Ma gave me a lot of hope at the time and appeared
to be a clean political star,” he said. “Two years have passed, I don’t know
what he actually did.”
He said that while Ma made a lot of policy announcements, “what he said were all
things that are way up there and we just can’t grab anything.”
A lot of young people in Changhua are unemployed and the government promised to
create job opportunities by creating a Central Taiwan Science Park, he said.
“I don’t see how it would help unemployment here, because they only hire
high-tech professionals elsewhere, not locals,” he said.
As a social worker, Tsai Chia-lin noticed that the KMT administration doesn’t
seem to care as much about welfare, as they often cannot get the budgets they
need from government authorities, even when they work on cases outsourced by the
government.
Although most people were disillusioned by Ma, Liao Kang-yuan remained hopeful.
“Ma is a upright politician who leads a clean government — unlike the corrupt
government of Chen Shui-bian,” Liao said. “A corrupt government cannot do
anything, so we must trust Ma.”
Leading a government is like driving a car, he said.
“When you’re not familiar with the road conditions, of course you don’t drive
well, but once you get to know the roads better, you drive faster and better,”
he said.
“There is no question that Ma will do better; no doubt about it,” Liao said.
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