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[ LETTER ]
A lesson from Singapore?
As a Singaporean who has a strong affinity with Taiwan, I am deeply saddened by
the direction in which the country seems to be heading since President Ma Ying-jeou
(馬英九) assumed office almost four years ago.
In my view, Ma’s gravest mistake, which could severely disrupt the social order
in Taiwan if left unrectified, is to allow the influx of Chinese students and
tourists into the country.
Singapore faced a similar problem in the mid-2000s — by allowing an uncontrolled
inflow of foreigners into the city-state, which led to public unhappiness over
several issues, including overcrowding on public transportation systems and
rising property prices.
Sensing growing public anger over the competition from foreigners and new
immigrants, the Singaporean government began to take steps to slow down the
inflow of immigrants and foreign workers in 2009. The government also sharpened
the distinction between citizens and non-citizens by giving more benefits to
citizens in key areas, such as education.
It was a case of too little, too late, as voters displayed their unhappiness at
the polls in May last year. For the first time in Singapore’s history, two
ministers were voted out of office, while the opposition won 40 percent of the
votes cast.
Post-election, the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) appointed a committee to
review ministerial salaries — another issue that has angered many Singaporeans
during the past two decades.
Recent political developments and changes in Singapore would not have been
possible if voters did not push for these through their sacred votes.
In all likelihood, any political observer who compares the performance of the
PAP in fulfilling its electoral promises with the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT)
campaign pledges would argue that the former has done much better in delivering
on its promises.
To be fair to the PAP, it has served Singaporeans well and pretty fairly over
the past few decades. That said, voters’ educational backgrounds today are
different from those in the past and it is only to be expected that we have
higher expectations of our political leaders today.
Ma embarked on a catchy and aggressive “6-3-3” campaign to woo voters four years
ago. Indeed, he promised much, but delivered little.
Ma has failed to achieve an annual economic growth rate of 6 percent, an
unemployment rate of less than 3 percent and per capita income of more than
US$30,000.
Since these three areas are number-specific, the next-best course of action for
Ma is to highlight other accomplishments that cannot be measured in numbers.
One of these, as he would like voters to believe, is cross-strait relations.
However, I find it baffling that Ma can claim that cross-strait ties today are
better than those during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) era, especially
since there are more Chinese missiles pointed at Taiwan today.
So what exactly has Ma achieved?
Is Taiwan now a more democratic country than it was during Chen’s
administration?
I doubt it, given the number of smear attacks launched against Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in recent
weeks.
Are Taiwanese better off today, in terms of wages and living conditions,
compared with a few years ago?
Again, I doubt it.
I concur with Tsai, who says stability exists when “people wake up in the
morning knowing that they have a job, have a house to live in when they get off
work and can put food on the table.”
In many ways, the level of frustrations faced by Taiwanese today is similar to
that of Singaporeans about eight months ago.
If Singapore’s example is any indication, it might just be time for Taiwanese
voters to send a clear message to Ma and his party colleagues, who are
contesting the presidential and legislative elections today.
Enough is enough, and I humbly believe only a change of government can reshape
the destiny of Taiwanese, who gave Ma an excessively strong mandate in 2008 —
only to be left terribly disappointed four years on.
The electorate’s decisions today will shape their country’s future for many
decades to come, and as a keen and concerned observer of Taiwanese politics, I
hope voters will turn out in full force and demonstrate through the ballot box
the type of future they aspire to.
Jason Lee
Singapore
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