A-bian
When A-bian met with Lien Chan
Whether or not Feb. 28 would be a public holiday this year was originally a minor and routine matter. But in the end, nobody raised the issue and nobody made a decision, leaving the entire country in doubt about whether or not to take the day off. This was a second outrage.
Regarding the issue of whether or not Penghu should build tourist casinos, A-bian could adopt one of only two possible attitudes -- acceptance or refusal. But the result has ended up resembling Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon
Every penny of public funds spent by the chairman of a bank should be related to bank business, but the chairman of First Commercial Bank, Jerome Chen (陳建隆), managed to spend over NT$400,000 of public funds on postage to send a personal letter recommending a candidate in the primary election of his political party. If this incident hadn't come to light, the money might very well have been incomprehensibly written off by the chairman. This was a fourth outrage.
Kobayashi's On Taiwan (
Many people say that the DPP is accustomed to being the opposition party and therefore is only capable of the discourse of opposition and not the discourse of government. Some people also say that the DPP only has experience with local power and lacks experience with central power. Therefore, they say, in the early period after the change in ruling parties, the country will be chaotic for a while.
Even more people note that the DPP is a minority party in the legislature. The opposition alliance impedes their every effort, causing the DPP to constantly find itself in the awkward position of desiring to act but lacking the power to govern and implement policy.
These arguments all make sense. But among the above mentioned outrages, not one has anything to do with administrative experience, the discourse of government, or having a ruling majority. The vast majority came about because the DPP lacks political sensitivity.
Political sensitivity involves knowing instinctively whether or not certain statements and certain actions should be said or done, as well as knowing what the consequences of those statements and actions would be. If the ruling party lacks even this most basic sensitivity and keeps on saying or doing outrageous things, who should be blamed for the administrative mess we now face?
Wang Chien-chuang is president of The Journalist magazine.
Translated by Ethan Harkness
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