Economic reform rather than political ideology is clearly the foremost concern of Taiwanese voters, as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration’s failure to improve the economy translated into crushing defeat in the nine-in-one elections on Saturday last week.
For the first time in the history of the nation’s democratic evolution, Taiwanese simply voted for the right to survive. The Democratic Progressive Party’s landslide victory — winning 13 of the 22 mayoral seats — also destroyed the myth that “deep-blue” or “deep-green” supporters would always vote along party lines.
That is no longer the case. The KMT won just 40.7 percent of the votes, its lowest since 2001, while the DPP grabbed 47.55 percent, its second-highest since direct elections were introduced.
Voters roared for change as stagnating wages and a widening income gap have created a new generation of working poor. With monthly payrolls hitting a 15-year low, most young people are struggling to pay for the basic necessities. Meanwhile, Taiwan has become a haven for foreign businesses looking for cheap labor.
The KMT should learn from this defeat and listen carefully to the public’s voice — or risk facing even more serious consequences in the presidential election in 2016.
In its remaining two years in power, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration needs to tackle key economic issues skillfully and sort out the problems. The government forecasts that the economy would grow 3.5 percent annually this year, but the average person is unlikely to feel the effect of this growth because it is not passed on in the form of wage hikes.
The government has long ignored the disconnect between economic growth and wages, which most economists blame on Taiwan’s special trade structure — with local manufacturers taking orders in Taiwan, but manufacturing the goods overseas — for the mismatch.
In addition to wages, the government needs to ramp up its efforts to solve a host of problems ranging from food safety scares to rising prices of daily necessities, tax reform and trade talks not only with China, but also other countries.
The government should give up long-standing bureaucratic inertia and tackle the tasks at hand with determination. It should avoid the policy turnabouts that have only caused confusion among officials, depressed markets and caused the public to lose confidence in the government. The draft cross-strait trade in goods agreement and proposal to establish free economic pilot zones have been stalled in the legislature for at least six months, as poor communication by the government and the lack of an extensive assessment of potential trade losses have fueled strong opposition from a public afraid of what may happen if markets are opened up. The list goes on.
The Ma government has also arrived at a critical juncture as it confronts growing difficulties in tapping a capable candidate to helm the Cabinet following Premier Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) resignation. The next premier faces an uphill task in pushing government policies in the face of an empowered opposition and deteriorating support from KMT legislators.
KMT legislators, including Lee Ching-hua (李慶華), had tried to persuade central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) to take over as premier, but Perng has stuck to his guns and declined the offer.
With Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh (杜紫軍) and National Development Council Minister Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) announcing on Monday that they would not try to stay on in their posts, the new premier will also face the difficult task of finding industry experts to take the portfolios.
The road ahead is bumpy, and the Ma government needs to install the right officials to work on new measures to improve public livelihoods — or risk another public backlash in the next elections.
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry