A clear pattern has developed since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in May 2008: When the political situation is positive, he is quick to jump up and take the credit, but when the going gets tough or problems begin to surface, he is just as quick to take cover and shirk his responsibilities.
That was the case in July at the height of the controversy surrounding the allegations of corruption involving former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世). In spite of Ma, who doubles as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, having entrusted Lin with several major posts in the party and his administration, the president was quick to distance himself from Lin, claiming that Lin’s appointment as KMT Policy Committee director had been made by former party chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄).
This was also the case in August 2009 when Typhoon Morakot wreaked havoc in the mountainous regions in southern Taiwan and a landslide wiped out then-Kaohsiung County’s Siaolin Village (小林) and buried nearly 500 people. Ma, rather than reflecting on his administration’s delayed rescue efforts, shamelessly shifted the blame to the victims by commenting more than once that many problems could have been avoided if people had been better prepared and evacuated earlier.
On Monday, Ma repeated this pattern in an interview with the Taipei-based UFO radio network when he said the government should be more delicate when drafting legislative measures and be more considerate of others when implementing policy. Citing as an example the state-run Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) announcement in April that it would increase electricity prices, Ma criticized the company for implementing the hike during summer, adding that this would “naturally fuel public grievances.”
It is unbelievable to see how the president can so easily shift blame onto others. In case Ma needs a reminder, during the summer it was he who was telling the public how necessary it was for electricity prices to increase and reprimanding those who opposed the hike for not understanding economics.
Prior to Taipower’s announcement, the Ministry of Economic Affairs on April 1 had already announced that fuel prices would be increased by between 7 percent and 11 percent, effective from April 2. In other words, the fuel and electricity price hikes initiated by the government were the primary reason behind the increase in the prices of consumer goods and inflationary expectations. Yet, the president still brazenly shifts the blame to Taipower and ministry officials and acts as if he played no role in adding to the public’s financial struggles.
Even if Taipower initially proposed raising electricity prices, the final decision is in Ma’s hands, so to shift the blame onto the state firm is despicable.
This recurring pattern of blame-shifting is especially disturbing because, more often than not, lower-ranking government officials and agencies in the Ma government are made to shoulder the responsibility for the disasters created by their superiors.
This brings to mind the case of Yu Wen (余文), a Taipei City Government staffer during Ma’s stint as mayor of Taipei, who, following Ma’s indictment in 2006 on a charge of misusing his special mayoral allowance, was seen by many to have been Ma’s fall guy. Yu served time for failing to keep Ma’s accounts in order.
In view of this behavior, unless the president begins showing some backbone and accepts responsibility for his words and actions, it looks like more “Yu Wens” will be needed to serve as scapegoats for higher-ranking officials, as the public continues to suffer at the hands of Ma’s incompetence.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under