There is increasing speculation over a Cabinet reshuffle following the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) defeat in the Dec. 3 local government elections. The most intriguing part of this process will be the choice to lead the revamped executive. On Sunday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Wang said Chen had considered him for the post, but that he had instead recommended that the post be offered to Ma. Wang added that he had not informed Ma of Chen's offer. Meanwhile, the Presidential Office issued a press release rebutting Ma's statement.
With all of this going on, it's hard to believe either side. And whatever the truth of the matter, this situation must be a source of considerable embarrassment for Premier Frank Hsieh (
No matter how the DPP overhauls the Cabinet, the public's focus should be clean government.
According to the 2005 Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International, Taiwan ranks 32nd out of 159 countries and regions. The result is about the same as its ranking of 35 last year and 30 the year before. However, the judicial branch of government has, for the first time, been declared to be suffering from corruption. This development is unacceptable.
Chen must examine his conscience and ask himself if he has only been thinking about his place in history and aiming too high by promoting long-term constitutional reform and cross-strait peace, while neglecting matters that are closer to the daily lives of ordinary people, such as law and order, judicial reform, corruption and the economy. He must listen to the public and build the clean and competent government that the public demands.
We have recently heard much in the media of Ma's support for the majority party forming the Cabinet. In this case, he must first rein in the 14 pan-blue county commissioners and city mayors in order to prevent the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) from straying toward its traditional comfort zone of systemic corruption.
In the upcoming elections for speakers of county and city councils, Ma should ensure that there is no repetition of the ugly rumors of rampant vote-buying that swirled around the Dec. 12, 2002, Kaohsiung City Council race.
Since Ma is interested in forming a Cabinet and is likely to be the pan-blue camp's candidate for president in 2008, it is possible that the pan-green camp's defeat in local government elections will spur the two camps into a competition promoting cleaner government and administrative excellence. Certainly this would be much more beneficial than the feuding and boycotts that have done so much to hold back the nation's progress and damage its international reputation.
If the two political camps are willing to turn over a new leaf and initiate a period of positive competition in which debate replaces personal attacks -- and in which charisma and competence replace money as a magnet for votes -- a superior political environment would be the outcome.
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
Liberals have wasted no time in pointing to Karol Nawrocki’s lack of qualifications for his new job as president of Poland. He has never previously held political office. He won by the narrowest of margins, with 50.9 percent of the vote. However, Nawrocki possesses the one qualification that many national populists value above all other: a taste for physical strength laced with violence. Nawrocki is a former boxer who still likes to go a few rounds. He is also such an enthusiastic soccer supporter that he reportedly got the logos of his two favorite teams — Chelsea and Lechia Gdansk —
Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Tuesday last week apologized over allegations that the former director of the city’s Civil Affairs Department had illegally accessed citizens’ data to assist the KMT in its campaign to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors. Given the public discontent with opposition lawmakers’ disruptive behavior in the legislature, passage of unconstitutional legislation and slashing of the central government’s budget, civic groups have launched a massive campaign to recall KMT lawmakers. The KMT has tried to fight back by initiating campaigns to recall DPP lawmakers, but the petition documents they
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