When the Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) was appointed, it was said his new Cabinet would provide peace and security for the nation. With the crises over US beef imports and the outbreak of H5N2 avian influenza there seems to be a noticeable breakdown in communication between the government and the public. No one appears sure about what is going on and consumers have lost confidence in the safety of beef and chicken products.
There have been meetings on how to proceed at all governmental levels, from the Presidential Office, to the Council of Agriculture, the Department of Health and local governments. However, the public has been left completely in the dark, so these administrative powwows do little to alleviate the confusion. The problems drag on, unresolved, and the public has started losing faith in the government’s ability to cope.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) told American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt last month that the “new Cabinet will have a new approach.” No guesses as to what the administration’s stance is on the matter, then.
The opposition and experts have been arguing the point back and forth, but how many countries in the world ban imported ractopamine-injected meat? The government has not been forthcoming about how ractopamine affects cattle and pigs, or what kind of effect it has on people who consume such meat over an extended period of time. The government has called many meetings at the Presidential Office, merely repeating the mantra that its first consideration is the public’s health and that there is no predetermined stance or timetable in place.
This prevarication; this inaction; this opacity, is trying the patience of the public, experts, the opposition and the US. Some pan-blue legislators have even proposed taking the decision over US beef imports out of the hands of the Cabinet and making it a legal issue, further restricting the administration’s control over the decision.
A suspected outbreak of H5N2 avian influenza in chickens was first brought to the attention of the council in December last year by documentary filmmaker Kevin H. J. Lee (李惠仁), but it took the council more than two months to act, with a preemptive cull of tens of thousands of chickens only done recently. There have been accusations of a government cover-up, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine director Hsu Tien-lai (許天來) resigned and prosecutors have raided the bureau’s offices.
The clinical results regarding the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Taiwan are inconclusive, as infected chickens are still alive and producing eggs. The council therefore decided to call successive meetings with experts to discuss the issue, although the public once again had no idea what was concluded.
Valuable time is being wasted. Academics say that to prevent the mutation of the virus and to stop it from being transmitted to humans, we should be undertaking comprehensive testing of farms for virus antibodies. The council only calls more meetings.
The crux of the problem is something that everyone was aware of even before the Jan. 14 presidential election: The Ma administration is incompetent with regard to decisionmaking, communication and governance. It is uncomfortable taking responsibility. It does not matter how many meetings with experts are held, it is not going to help dispel the public’s suspicions or fears, or prevent the collapse of their faith in the government. The premier says the Cabinet understands the importance of food safety, but when it is being coy with information and thinks more meetings are the answer to everything, when it studiously fails to address problems, the public’s ordeal drags on and its dissatisfaction with the administration grows.
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