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EDITORIAL: Emperor
fiddling as Taiwan burns
¡§Incompetent¡¨ and ¡§arrogant¡¨ have often been used by critics to describe
President Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E) in light of his poor governance. However, in view
of his administration¡¦s recent personnel reshuffle, it seems ¡§selfish¡¨ could
also be added to the list of adjectives, given that Ma appears more interested
in ¡§leaving a legacy¡¨ than in tackling the nation¡¦s economic woes.
Opposition parties and critics alike have been quick to accuse Ma of missing a
point in the reshuffle announced last week. Pointing to the nation¡¦s sluggish
economic status, including a high unemployment rate of 4.4 percent, an inflation
rate of 3.42 percent and the likelihood of seeing its misery index for last
month listed as the highest among the four ¡§Asian Tigers,¡¨ they said replacing
officials in economics or finance ministries was imperative to rescue the
economy.
Indeed, a head of a state who keeps people¡¦s suffering close to heart and could
empathize with the public¡¦s struggles would likely do just as the critics
suggested, replacing the administration¡¦s economic team to demonstrate a sense
of determination to reinvigorate the economy.
That Ma chose to change his national security, foreign affairs and cross-strait
team instead left the public to conclude that he thinks the former are more
urgent and important than the economic troubles plaguing the country.
Why is that?
After winning re-election in January, Ma was not shy to reveal his ambition of
¡§leaving a legacy¡¨ and making bold reforms now that he no longer faces the
pressure of seeking re-election. As signing a peace pact with China was one of
the items in Ma¡¦s ¡§golden decade¡¨ national development plan during his
re-election campaign, it would be reasonable to connect the dots and to suspect
the Cabinet reshuffle may have had more to do with speeding up his ¡§golden
decade¡¨ plan for Taiwan.
Then there is the new role given to Ma¡¦s longtime advisor King Pu-tsung (ª÷·ÁÁo),
who was named the next representative to the US. King said in a recent interview
that he could and would faithfully convey Ma¡¦s policies to the US, an emphasis
that was intriguing and created speculation that the Ma government might need to
allay the US¡¦ wariness in the event that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait
begin to discuss signing a peace agreement.
Although Ma has promised that a referendum would be held first to gauge public
opinion about a peace agreement with China and that his government would not
sign such an agreement if the referendum fails, many Taiwanese have little
confidence in Ma¡¦s words considering the lack of oversight and transparency in
the government¡¦s negotiations with China in the case of the cross-strait
Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).
While some may be applauding Ma and lauding how he, through the latest personnel
adjustment, demonstrated his determination to try to create new horizons for
Taiwan¡¦s foreign and cross-strait relations, many more cannot help but cringe ¡X
and fear that the nation¡¦s president seems to be more interested in making his
¡§personal mark¡¨ on history and establishing his so-called legacy than he is in
the welfare of his people.
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