“We have heard the people’s voice. I promise you, the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] will be appreciative and humble. We’ll listen hard, care about the plight of the people and engage in policy reviews and introspection,” President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in his election victory speech on March 22, 2008, a pledge he has since repeated every so often.
However, many can’t help but wonder if the president really has his ears attuned to the plight of the people. If the president is, as he often says, “feeling the pain of the people,” then he must have heard the recent cries of farmers from Jhunan Township (竹南) over the Miaoli County Government’s forceful takeover of their farmland, or of oyster farmers along the west coast over fears of reliving the nightmare of harvesting dead oysters as a result of industrial contamination, as well as the roars from environmentalists on behalf of the endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin.
Aloofness and ignorance exist everywhere and Taiwan is no exception. However, it is downright dispiriting to witness the apathy and callousness demonstrated by members of the government, as evidenced by the Miaoli County Government’s peremptory moves, Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) ignorant comments and, most of all, Ma’s inaction.
Ma’s silence to date is disturbing, with some wondering whether the president can hear only the voices of conglomerates and the rich.
The result of the seemingly heartless and insensitive inaction of the Ma government is that, once again, people are compelled to take their rage and discontent to the streets, with a protest scheduled to be held in front of the Presidential Office on Saturday to demand respect for their rights, their land, the environment and animals.
A recent survey by the Chinese-language Global Views Monthly magazine suggested that Ma’s approval rating last month stood at a mere 28.4 percent, a slip of 2 points from May. Granted, a new opinion poll released by the Cabinet’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission on Monday placed Ma’s approval rating at 46.8 percent, but that figure is still less than 50 percent, a sign of Ma’s unpopularity among the majority of people.
Suffering a similarly low approval rating, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was embarrassed by the poor performance of his governing Grand National Party in local elections last month. That may very well serve as a warning for Ma and his party. If Ma, with an approval rating of only 28 percent, continues to turn a deaf ear to public hardships, it will only be a matter of time before the people translate their anger and discontent into their vote in the year-end special municipal elections and deal Ma a political blow.
Ma and his government officials are advised to practice what Ma preaches and keep their ears attuned to the public’s voice. After all, it is the government’s basic responsibility to look after the public’s well-being and be responsive to its cries.
Mr President, are you listening?
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