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Editorial: Is Ma running out of promises?

Certain sections of the Hualien populace must be very disappointed this week following the visit of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

Ma was in town on Saturday to take part in an economic forum as part of his latest "long stay" visit to each region of the country. During the forum, much to the disappointment of those in attendance, Ma failed to endorse the construction of the Suhua Freeway, a controversial proposal linking Hualien with Suao in Ilan County that has come under fire from environmental groups.

Ma told the audience he could not lie to win an election, saying only that the region's infrastructure needed significant development before the proposed freeway could be considered.

"We do not want to make the mistakes [we made] in the development of western Taiwan," he said, before promising NT$30 billion (US$920 million) for the development of local tourism.

This kind of caution is rich, coming from a man who during his recent travels promised enough development to keep the concrete flowing for decades to come.

In his desperation to claw back the reins of executive power for his party, Ma's "long stays" have turned him into a strange breed of political Santa Claus, with the jolly Ma whizzing around the country promising his supporters everything on their wish lists. He has pledged just about everything to everyone, with a seemingly never-ending supply of pork-barrel promises and national policy goals.

In no particular order, Ma has so far promised to investigate unsolved mysteries of the White Terror era; turn the nation's coastal areas into tourist destinations; build casinos in Penghu; triple the proposed quota for Chinese tourists to Taiwan; promote large scale forestation of fallow farmland in Chiayi and Tainan; create agricultural "golden corridors" and agricultural parks; increase pensions for elderly farmers; allow fishermen to operate recreational businesses; make it easier for people to operate helicopter tours; give the fishing industry a 14 percent fuel subsidy; revitalize the financial, tourism and health care industries; push for further financial liberalization; develop medical tourism; increase the education budget to 6 percent of GDP; raise economic growth to 6 percent; raise average personal income to US$20,000 by 2011 and decrease unemployment to 3 percent.

One thing is sure: Ma's economic mastermind and right-hand man, vice presidential candidate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), will need all of his reputed economic skills -- and then some -- to make all of these promises materialize.

Ma has also vowed to solve the cross-strait impasse, saying he would negotiate an interim peace agreement with China based on the KMT's fantasy that "one China" refers to the Republic of China -- even though this view holds no currency with China's autocrats.

Vows to make poverty history and achieve world peace cannot be far away.

Ma is certainly setting the bar high for himself, especially for someone with such a patchy record of administrative achievement during his eight years in charge of Taipei.

Traveling the nation and chastising the government for breaking promises during its two terms in power is one thing, but Ma should remember that while promises may make friends, it is performance that keeps them.

Let's just hope he knows exactly how he will fulfill all these promises should he win the election, otherwise there are going to be a lot more disappointed people to add to those in Hualien.
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