During the almost four years that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been in power, the Cabinet has done nothing that has left a deep impression. The many defensive explanations do nothing to refute the results -- the public has not been dazzled. The Economic Development Advisory Conference and the president's economic advisors have proposed some substantive financial and economic policies, but these policies have not been initiated by the Cabinet.
Not until Premier Yu Shyi-kun presented the Cabinet's public construction package -- NT$500 billion over five years -- did our eyes light up. This package finally makes us feel that the government has extracted itself from its previous focus on economic-growth indicators and integrated the overall quality of society into economic policy indicators.
The package includes four main components -- education and training, knowledge and cultural industries, balanced development of basic transportation and public investment to improve quality of life. These components are persuasive in Taiwan, an already developed society where growth rates are slowing and the public is beginning to pay attention to improving the overall quality of life.
In the 1990s, demands for improvement began appearing throughout society, demanding the government provide a more humane and balanced living environment. The government has gradually responded to these demands, and it has also learned a few slogans, such as "sustainable development." Not until now, however, have these concepts become the focus of the government's overall economic plans.
We cannot help but worry that these quality-based plans will be unable to withstand the temptations of quantification.
When he announced the package, for example, Yu stressed annual average increase in job opportunities, GDP growth, maintaining Taiwan's position as "No. 1 in Asia" in the face of growing competition, moving towards becoming one of the "world's three strongest nations" and other such quantitative benchmarks. When President Chen Shui-bian (
When Chen made these requests, the clever executors of policy were certain to think that the fastest way to get results is to put most of the investment into engineering departments, while humanities departments will only get the leftovers. Will cultural industries merely become a matter of trying to bring in world-class museums, such as the Guggenheim (spending most of the money on hardware)? Will we wind up in the same situation as before, sponsoring only one internationally renowned dance troupe, and with only one major film winning an award from an international film festival, while domestic art doesn't reach down to the grassroots level and popular films are not made?
If there were a clear fundamental implementation policy to this construction package, the direction should be the opposite of "creating one good example" and "number worship." But numbers are seductive. When those proposing the plan rely on quantification in their attempts to sell it to the public, they will also fall under the spell of the myth of numbers.
But we must not forget that the public will not be able to express their feeling of happiness by quantifying it. When it comes to quality, that feeling is truer than any number.
Ku Er-teh is a freelance writer.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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