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2012: The year faith
was lost in Ma
By Lu Shih-hsiang 盧世祥
The year 2012 is over. It was an unbearable year for the people of Taiwan, and
it all began with the election of the wrong president.
A re-elected president, a new Cabinet and a new legislature all took office at
the beginning of the year, but over the year these government officials and
elected representatives fell short of public expectations.
Taiwanese saw the economy take a dive, increasing public hardship, social
unfairness, political corruption, Chinese intervention and the nation’s
marginalization in the international community.
Although the world did not end on Dec. 21, an atmosphere of pessimism swept the
nation in the face of all these crises.
Perhaps the economy and people’s living standards suffered most.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said late last year that he could see the light at
the end of the tunnel. It is no surprise to hear a president stress that things
are looking good, but his remarks highlighted the fact that the nation’s economy
had hit rock bottom.
How bad was the situation? Early last year, the Ma administration estimated the
annual economic growth rate for the year to reach 4.58 percent, but that figure
was adjusted downward nine times over the year: By the end of the year it was
questionable if it would even reach 1 percent.
This performance was worst among not only the four Asian Tigers, but of all of
the 12 major Asian countries.
Due to the economic downturn, the public suffered. Taiwan’s unemployment rate
was the highest in East Asia and the average wage level fell back to the level
of 14 years ago.
Both white and blue-collar workers were frustrated, and about 93 percent of
white-collar workers wanted to find an extra job on the side.
Young Taiwanese were hardest hit, as unemployment among those in their 20s
reached as high as 14 percent, while a low monthly salary of NT$22,000 (US$690)
became the norm among those who did have a job.
What made those at the bottom even more miserable was that fuel and electricity
prices were hiked in the spring, which caused a chain reaction of price hikes as
public anticipation turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy, greatly increasing
the daily expenses of wage earners.
In addition, both people who preferred to dine out and people who had their
meals at home suffered from the impact of the strong push for US beef after the
import ban was lifted.
After complaints from the public, the government spent several months before
finally proposing a distorted version of the capital gains tax on securities
transactions, which drew strong criticism from stock investors. Before the
government had even profited from the new tax, it suffered from the reduction of
the securities transaction tax.
Part of the reason for the economy’s dark prospects was the incompetence of
those in power and the problematic industrial development mode.
Many Taiwanese companies invested in China in an effort to reduce costs and
expand their scale, but the lack innovation and the low profits of contract
manufacturers meant that this strategy became unsustainable.
The reason for the economic slowdown, then, was not the economic cycle or
external factors. Rather, it was a fundamental problem of development strategy.
If adjustments are not made in a timely fashion and Taiwan continues to lean
toward China, Ma’s claim that he sees the light at the end of the tunnel will
simply be a deception to himself as well as everyone else.
A sluggish economy will exacerbate social conflict. Take last year’s hottest
topics for example. The lack of an increase in the basic wage and the surging
housing prices highlighted the widening income gap.
Controversy over the Labor Insurance Fund and pensions for military personnel,
civil servants and public school teachers reflected the unequal treatment of
different professional groups, and in particular, the issue concerning the 18
percent preferential savings interest rate on part of the pensions for
government employees showed that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would not
touch the benefits of its die-hard supporters.
The government was too weak to reform the pension system and Taiwanese youth, in
addition to enduring low wages and high unemployment, will now have to carry the
burden of growing public debt for many years to come.
In addition, there were many reports of people committing suicide after seeing
no way out of their poverty.
If the Ma administration merely consisted of “bumblers,” Taiwan’s economy and
society would not have deteriorated to this state of affairs.
The government lowered the inheritance, gift and business taxes for the rich and
was very generous when it came to spending money on sponsoring its supporters,
while oppressing the basic wages and rights of wage earners and farmers.
Moreover, the government raised the fuel and electricity prices in the name of
reform, yet failed to improve the efficiency of state-owned enterprises.
Even worse, it introduced the capital gains tax on securities transaction and
increased the second-generation national health insurance premiums and the
national pension premiums, tormenting the public who were already reeling from a
poor economy.
Officials ignored the complaints of stock investors, the losses of bank
depositors and the hardships of part-time workers.
It is the government’s responsibility to serve the public, but it has failed to
perform this duty and has instead created further hardship.
Last year also saw China launch more direct and comprehensive political warfare
against Taiwan. It demonstrated its ability to influence the results of the
presidential election by telling pro-Chinese businesspeople to speak up in
support of Ma.
Later, with the help of their Taiwanese allies, high-raking Chinese officials
traveled across the nation to lure Taiwanese people to China to promote
unification as well as oppose independence.
Finally, a concert in connection with the Chinese Music Chart Awards (中國歌曲排行榜)
was held in Taipei on Dec.29. China not only penetrated Taiwan, but also
encouraged Taiwanese from all walks of life to visit China, offering courteous
treatment, making its approach even smoother and more sophisticated.
In comparison, the Ma administration bragged about the benefits of the signing
of the cross-straight Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China in
2011, claiming that it would boost the economy, increase exports to China,
attract foreign investment and benefit free-trade agreement talks with other
countries.
Taiwanese have gained none of those benefits over the past year. After opening
Taiwan up to Chinese tourists, the Ma administration, which leaned excessively
toward China, placed its hope on Chinese capital and allowed Chinese companies
to participate in public construction projects.
For many years, Taiwan has suffered by the equating Sinicization with
internationalization, but Ma has continued to do so. This is tantamount to
inviting disaster.
China’s direct and indirect penetration into Taiwan eroded not only the nation’s
economy and security, but also press freedom. Taiwanese tycoons with huge
business in China continued to buy up Taiwanese media outlets last year.
Clearly, the Ma administration had no intention of taking care of the nation.
Luckily, academic and social groups actively fought against media
monopolization, hoping to reverse the situation. Just as in the case of former
president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) denied applications for medical parole, the
major media buyout took place under the looming specter of China. These are all
indicators of the autonomy of the Ma administration’s decision-making.
In terms of Taiwan’s democracy, everyone paid attention to the major corruption
scandals involving former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) and
former National Fire Agency director-general Huang Chi-min (黃季敏).
Meanwhile, the KMT paid a NT$45 million fine for the vote-buying practices of
its candidates in various elections. Corruption and vote-buying clearly remained
rampant. The legislature, where KMT legislators enjoyed a majority, was an
anti-reform rubber stamp that prioritized the interests of the party and
individual legislators.
In the judiciary, prosecutors and investigators continued to treat politicians
from different camps differently, and there were no signs that they would stop
being political tools.
The past year was indeed unbearable, which has been reflected by public opinion.
Early in the year, Ma was re-elected with over half of the votes, but his
support ratings declined drastically to between 10 percent and 20 percent, as an
increasing number of Taiwanese regretted electing him.
Ma, who never admits to having made a mistake, said the future was bright once
again, claiming that Taiwan would overcome all difficulties, and that the
economic growth rate had exceeded 6 percent for one-and-a-half-years during his
presidency.
GDP grew 10.9 percent in 2010, but that must be considered a rebound from the
previous year, in which GDP contracted by 1.9 percent. At a time when the
government struggled to keep the economic growth rate above 1 percent, Ma
repeated the same old trick, by comparing this year to last year and claiming
that the outlook for this year is bright, although the UN warns that the global
economy could remain stagnant for two more years.
However, Taiwan no longer believes Ma. Ninety-five percent of Taiwanese say that
his efforts to boost the economy were imperceptible. Besides, he failed to
fulfill his promise that he would donate half of his salary if his “6-3-3”
promise failed.
His New Year’s address, entitled “Lighting candles for the next generation,” is
still ringing in our ears, but how can we believe that a team that is unable to
light candles, will bring a bright year?
Lu Shih-hsiang is an adviser to the Taipei Times.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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