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Ma’s boasts are a lot
of fiction, not much fact
By Lee Ying-yuan 李應元
The government boasts that it has already carried out 173 of the 414 original
policy objectives it had set itself, and is working on another 198. However, how
far does this accurately reflect the truth? Anyone with a basic grasp of what
the central government has been up to over the past few years will shake their
heads at this assertion. Its so-called “achievements” are full of holes and are
misleading to say the least.
Let’s look at the government’s promise to promote ecological science parks,
something planned when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was still in
power. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) merely inherited the policy, and is now
taking the credit for the results.
When the DPP was in government, it planned to have green science parks open for
business and the companies all moved in in Greater Kaohsiung, Hualien, Greater
Tainan and Taoyuan by June 2006, October 2008, December 2008 and July 2009
respectively. All of this was instigated under the DPP administration, but then
Ma took over and saw it through to the end.
If he’s going to claim credit for the green science parks, he should at least
come clean about the DPP’s role in their foundation.
Here’s another good one: Four years ago, Ma promised a reforestation drive as
part of the “12 i-Taiwan Projects” policy, a promise he never kept.
He said that within eight years he would see the creation of 60,000 hectares of
forest land. According to Forestry Bureau statistics, the actual area of new
woodland in 2008 was 310 hectares, with another 346 in 2009. If you were to
believe Ma’s review report, you would think 14,967 hectares of forest had been
created in 2008, followed by another 5,537 in 2009. That makes a total of 20,504
hectares in two years. It does seem that one’s audacity is the true measure of
one’s achievement.
The 12 i-Taiwan Projects also included the construction of an MRT connection
linking the planned Taoyuan Aerotropolis to the surrounding transportation
network.
According to the report, the project is way ahead of schedule, with 70.78
percent of the work complete at the end of April this year, instead of the
expected 69.5 percent. The reality is somewhat different. At the time of
writing, only 5km of track had been laid. It is actually substantially behind
schedule.
Of course, there are a pile of other bounced checks we could mention. Ma also
said, for example, that he would oversee the establishment of a department of
cultural tourism within a year of becoming president, which would be allocated 4
percent of the total budget before the end of his first term.
Three years down the line and this new department has yet to materialize. Even
if the government is reorganized next year, tourism will still be the remit of
the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, so any talk about merging
culture and tourism is just empty rhetoric.
Ma also promised the provision of long-term care for senior citizens, something
else he is welching on.
It also seems to have escaped the government that the population is aging and
that the amount of money invested in long-term care for the elderly actually
went down to NT$2.3 billion (US$80.2 million) last year from NT$3.1 billion in
2008, when Ma took over.
The above examples are merely the first that come to mind. The government should
come clean about them.
Lee Ying-yuan is a former secretary-general of the Democratic Progressive
Party.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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