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The Liberty Times
Editorial: Harnessing the power of the people
On June 9 the results of another opinion poll were released, which contained a
number of rather interesting figures. One of these was that more than six out of
every 10 respondents thought that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), as chairman of
the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), would not be able to stamp out corruption
within his own party. A similar percentage also expressed doubts that he would
root out corruption among government officials or state-owned enterprises, as he
recently announced he intends to do.
The poll found that because of this skepticism, 57.5 percent of respondents
believe Ma should concentrate on governing the country and relinquish the party
chairmanship, with only just under 27 percent agreeing that he should continue
holding both posts.
That an opinion poll could show these results a week after the government and
the KMT swore they would investigate incidences of corruption shows two things:
The KMT is regarded by many as a lost cause and trust in the president has
collapsed.
In Taiwan’s first democratic transition of power in 2000, the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidential election on promises of an
anti-corruption drive. Eight years later, it had not delivered on that promise.
In 2008, the KMT took the relay baton. Hardly four years had passed when a
senior member of the party, a man close to Ma himself, former Executive Yuan
secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世), became embroiled in a major corruption
scandal.
Lin has been accused of employing gangster-style intimidation tactics to extort
money, in a way that goes far beyond the average passive acceptance of bribes,
and the public is incensed.
So much for the Ma administration’s pretensions to being clean. Could it be that
the chickens are finally coming home to roost?
It is essential that political leaders maintain the public’s trust. If they lose
that, their political careers are in serious jeopardy. If a national leader’s
power is terminally weakened, the country suffers. What, then, of the 23 million
people living in this country?
A clear majority of respondents in the aforementioned poll oppose Ma holding
both of his current positions, showing that there is already an overriding
consensus among the public that Ma cannot steer the country on his own, and that
he should delegate some of his power, allowing someone else to assume the KMT
chairmanship.
However, merely curtailing Ma’s power within the party does not go far enough,
for it will only prevent him from controlling KMT legislators in his capacity as
chairman, and from effectively deciding which major laws are passed.
Even more important is how executive power is to be restored to its proper form,
so that the system can operate as originally intended, instead of being
controlled by one man from above.
If the government is hobbled, how can the state provide citizens with a future
or hope?
In the past, Taiwanese presidents would seek consensus before deciding any
contentious major national policies. From what has been observed in the
machinations of the Presidential Office over the past few months, it is quite
clear that Ma has no intention of going this route.
The only way ahead now is for political, economic, social and other leaders to
come forward and make themselves heard, to unite and bring about the possibility
of entering into dialogue with Ma. This will require more than just one
individual taking action — it will take a group of such people who are able to
use their collective wisdom, ability and influence to propose reforms and
impress upon Ma that he should — or rather, must — carry them out.
No longer should he be allowed to encircle himself with a small clique of
politicians who devise spurious, rash policies which Ma feels being president
gives him the mandate to force upon the public, irrespective of what they want.
In other words, Taiwan needs a model of leadership that comes from consensus
within the wider social collective, rather than one in which Ma tells the public
he has already decided what is going to happen.
Over the next four years, Ma can be expected to be seen desperately clinging to
power, continuing to entrench himself within his walled fortress as his
perceived enemies lay siege. Meanwhile, those Taiwanese who are aware of the
situation will have to figure out what to do about the huge obstacle lying in
the way of the opportunities and potential of progress that the entire nation
seeks to attain.
If there is no way to remove this obstacle, people are going to have to find a
way around it, at least as a temporary measure, because they cannot just stop
moving forward. It is also incumbent upon the leaders of Taiwanese society to
unite and speak with one voice, to prevent the government from foisting the
ideas of the few onto the many.
Over the past few months there have been voices of dissent from various quarters
of society. The time is ripe to bring these ideas together and create sufficient
pressure to get the government to change its ways. If the people succeed in
doing this, future generations will be reading about it in the history books.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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