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Taiwan can’t afford
Ma’s inaction
By Jerome Keating
As Taiwan’s Jan. 14 presidential election approaches, one idea is becoming
clearer and clearer: Taiwan cannot afford to waste another four years under Ma
Ying-jeou (馬英九) as president. Despite measured hopes and claims, predictions on
Taiwan’s GDP growth continue to fall; they have now dipped into the 3 percent
bracket. This indicates that the so-called “Golden Decade” that Ma has adopted
as his campaign slogan has already died, in the same way that his “6-3-3”
promise, of 6 percent annual growth, annual per capita income of US$30,000 and
an unemployment rate below 3 percent, never got off the blocks.
People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) description of Ma as a
Persian cat (pretty to look at but inept at catching mice or doing anything
else) is looking more and more on the mark. Ma has lived too long off King
Pu-tsung’s (金溥聰) hype and surface imagery while forgoing substance and results;
he remains in effect the inveterate poseur par excellence.
In Ma’s eight years as mayor of Taipei, he posed for plenty of photos and Taipei
saw some cosmetic changes, but nothing substantive. Traffic flow did not
improve, housing prices spiraled and the city barely kept its budget — and then
only because Ma welched on the city’s national healthcare premiums and passed
them on to the central government.
As president, Ma began with great promise. He had veto-resistant control over 76
percent of the Legislative Yuan. Even a mediocre president could have done
wonders with such an advantage. But what has Taiwan to show? Never has so little
been done by one with so many advantages. Typhoon Morakot revealed there was no
plan — posing couldn’t stand in its way. And now, as the wealth gap widens,
housing prices are more prohibitive and graduating university students earn less
than their counterparts four years ago. Some try to counter by saying that there
are more flights to China — but that program was initiated under the past
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) president. What about the Economic
Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA)? It was rammed through without
legislative scrutiny, yet still did not salvage Ma’s 6-3-3 promise. Thus far the
ECFA has only benefited a few of the rich; substantive progress is lacking; a
smattering of protective trade agreements have been signed and few of those are
advantageous to Taiwan.
What are the prospects for the future? The 2012 Legislative Yuan will be totally
different, a multiparty body no longer dominated by the KMT. If Ma was
ineffectual in the green wood, imagine how useless he will be in the dry. Taiwan
and the legislature will need real, Taiwan-centric leadership; Taiwan cannot
afford to waste another four years under a China-dependent Ma.
One of the reasons for this failure is that Ma lives in the past, in another
world, trying to preserve the still-born, half-successful, unfulfilled 1911
Republic of China (ROC) revolution. It is a world that never got off the blocks
in China and never will, but Ma persists on clinging to that illusion. Chiang
Kai-shek (蔣介石), on the run, dragged that ROC illusion to Taiwan and used it to
justify the White Terror and the subjugation of the Taiwanese by his one-party
state. Chiang insisted on perpetuating the unrealistic myth that under him, the
ROC could return, retake and rescue China. Ma has followed that dream. Rather
than face the reality of a brave new democratic world and all of its numerous
developments, Ma perpetuates the myth of the return of that same ROC, believing
that with it he could one day rule China.
The Taiwanese do not want that. True, they are willing to trade with China, as
any other nation is, but they have no desire for union with China and all of its
problems. Despite this, a remnant in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) also
cling to Ma’s illusion. For them to do otherwise would be to admit that the
Taiwanese (taibazi in their ROC eyes) are capable of ruling themselves outside
of that myth.
The UN rejected that ROC vision of the world in 1971, and Taiwan will never gain
admission to the UN under this name. Ma does seem to recognize the futility of
this and he no longer applies for membership as the ROC, but he is still too
afraid to apply for UN membership as Taiwan. The US rejected the same concept of
the ROC in 1979. It tolerates Ma’s clinging to his myth because, as a good
little boy, Ma will not rock their boat. As regards Taiwan (not the ROC), the
US’ official position is “undecided and undetermined” — that clashes with Ma’s
myth, but he pretends the US still believes in the ROC. The People’s Republic of
China (PRC) tolerates Ma also because he, with his ROC myth, will not violate
the PRC’s belief in “one China.” The PRC knows the Persian Cat is ineffectual,
so it only has to wait until the Taiwan apple falls into its hands. The illusion
of “peace in the Taiwan Strait” exists because the US and the PRC, for separate
reasons, tolerate “good boy Ma” who, though ineffectual, at least does not rock
their boats.
Hoping that people would forget his unfulfilled campaign promises and, in an
effort to perpetuate the ROC myth, Ma’s government blew this year’s national
arts budget (US$7.1 million) on a two-night musical performance, Dreamers.
However, people have not forgotten Ma’s many empty pledges. In 2005, as KMT
chairman, Ma promised to divest the party of its ill-gotten gains. That has yet
to happen. The profit from the few things sold was simply put back in the KMT
war chest and it remains one of the richest parties in the world. Ma also
promised in 2005 to protect Taiwan through increased arms procurement, only to
block such a move until he could take credit for it after his party returned to
power. Finally, last year, Taiwan got simple “upgrades” on old equipment. As the
catalog of broken promises continues to expand, Taiwan must realize it cannot
afford to waste four more years on Ma.
Is there any hope for a new strategic economic revival? That was abandoned when
Ma dropped the seemingly savvy Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) as his candidate for vice
president and replaced him with the lackluster but loyal foot soldier Premier Wu
Den-yih (吳敦義). With few accomplishments to show for the past four years, Ma’s
final strategy appears to give up on the development and presentation of new
policies. Instead he will circle the wagons and rely on smear tactics to vilify
his opposition. In such a campaign, loyal soldiers unashamed to promote such
stories are his best and only help.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said it well enough some time ago: “Dump Ma
to save Taiwan.” Finally more and more Taiwanese are beginning to realize the
full meaning of what he said. Time is running out. If Taiwan is to move forward,
it cannot afford to waste another four years under Ma.
Jerome Keating is a writer based in Taipei.
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