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EDITORIAL: Ma
regaining lost trust is paramount
The single most important task for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to save his
legacy, with three years to go in his term, would not be establishing
representative offices across the Taiwan Strait, nor would it be reviving
Taiwan’s economy.
His most urgent goal has less to do with hard power, and more to do with soft
power: to regain the people’s trust from five years ago, when he won the
presidential election in a landslide victory, saying that Taiwan would be a
better country under his leadership.
The president could start with a very simple first step: stopping the scheduled
demolition of four farmers’ houses at Dapu (大埔), Jhunan Township (竹南) in Miaoli
County. Three years ago, Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), then premier, and
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), then interior minister, responded to public outrage
over the Miaoli County Government’s seizure of land in Dapu to make way for a
science park. They promised to preserve the remaining four houses and to find
land where the affected families could relocate their homes and farms. Miaoli
County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) also apologized to the farmers for
ordering the demolition.
Three years on, the government has withdrawn its promise and seems prepared to
tear down those houses, saying it never pledged unconditional preservation,
despite government meeting minutes clearly stating the pledge.
The so-called Dapu incident is stereotypical of the Ma administration, which
shamelessly tells people it does not need to fulfill its promises because 7.66
million voters in 2008 and 6.89 million voters last year gave it an
“unconditional” mandate.
Yet Ma’s unfulfilled campaign pledges and the dire performance of his
administration during the past five years show just how far these voters have
been let down. The administration has failed to deliver on almost every one of
its major commitments, including the “6-3-3” pledge and the promise of the TAIEX
reaching 10,000 points. The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement was
intended to boost the economy, and similar claims have been made about the
recent cross-strait trade pact.
Then there are the policies that Ma’s administration have not even tried to
dress up as part of the mandate given to it by 23 million people. Without
consulting either the Taiwanese public or the legislature, this administration
has unilaterally increased fuel and electricity prices and signed the
cross-strait service trade pact. The worst abuse has been in recently echoing
Beijing’s “one China” framework.
It seems Ma no longer cares about his credibility. Perhaps he thinks Taiwanese
do not understand his reform plan, policies and visions and he, as national
leader, must keep walking down the path alone and determined. Yet, ironically,
“credibility” was the first word that came out of Ma’s mouth when the
legislature tried to alter the content of the service trade pact, saying that
Taiwan’s international image would be damaged if the already signed pact were to
be changed.
If Ma wonders why people seem to be opposing everything his administration does,
it is because Taiwanese do not trust the government anymore.
And if Ma wonders why trust would be the most important asset he has to keep, he
need not look far. From 2006, former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁)
administration dramatically lost its credibility after a series of corruption
scandals rocked the nation. This contributed to the Democratic Progressive
Party’s defeat in the presidential election, and its tarnished image still
haunts the party today.
Ma needs to understand that there are no “two types of trust” in the world. Yes,
Taiwan ought to be a trustworthy partner in the international community, but
first Ma must win back the lost trust of the Taiwanese public at home.
He should take that first step today.
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