President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is like a junior-league baseball player waving his bat around in an adult game. Although he is “out” after three strikes, he still clings to the bat, while accusing the umpire of being unfair. Such antics are not very presidential.
To be more precise, Ma has earned at least six strikes in recent innings.
First, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) lawsuit against Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) has failed repeatedly.
Second, the KMT was trounced in the nine-in-one local elections in November last year.
Third, after prosecutors decided not to indict former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) deputy minister Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) on charges of leaking confidential information to China, both council minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) and National Security Council secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) tendered their resignations this month.
Fourth, former prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) was found guilty of leaking classified information about the legislative speaker’s case to Ma.
Fifth, Ma has failed to clarify his role in the alleged political donation case involving Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團).
Sixth, his sudden dismissal of then-Presidential Office head of security Huo Li-ching (霍立青) has caused a backlash.
Ma used to be attractive to the blue camp’s supporters, but he has proven incapable of appointing the right people for the right jobs or replacing them when necessary. He has lost all his credibility, and even his reputation for clean government is very much in question.
Senior Ting Hsin executive Wei Ying-chun (魏應充) was vice chairman of Ma’s support group during last his presidential campaign. Who could believe that Wei did not get this “honorable title” and his group’s business privileges in Taiwan in exchange for hefty political donations?
The public are suffering from Ma’s failures, but his misdeeds are awakening a wide range of political forces that offer hope for reforms and deepening of democracy in Taiwan.
The Legislative Yuan has started to exercise its independence by reflecting public opinion and restraining the executive branch. The judiciary, prosecutors and investigators are no longer willing to be Ma’s political tools, and they are starting to act more independently as they handle each case on its own merits.
These are advances for the separation of three powers of government.
Even the fourth estate — the KMT-friendly media that used to deify Ma — have now started to play their proper role of monitoring and criticizing the authorities and attempting to dig up the dirt on the Ma administration’s corruption and abuses of power.
Only when the legislature, judiciary and media play their respective independent roles can democracy function effectively.
Ma is accustomed to relying on his control of the legislature, judiciary and media to rule the country, and now that he has lost his grip on these tools it is getting difficult for him to stay in the game. As his credibility wanes, even his right to play is in question.
NBC’s Brian Williams has long been the most-watched network evening news anchor in the US. He told a story about a helicopter in which he was flying coming under attack during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, but his story has been exposed as false. Consequently, the network decided to suspend him for six months without pay.
Ma has done a lot worse than just boasting. He has lost all credibility while hurting the country and its people. If anyone should be sacked without pay, it is Ma.
James Wang is a media commentator.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on April 9 said that the first group of Indian workers could arrive as early as this year as part of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India and the India Taipei Association. Signed in February 2024, the MOU stipulates that Taipei would decide the number of migrant workers and which industries would employ them, while New Delhi would manage recruitment and training. Employment would be governed by the laws of both countries. Months after its signing, the two sides agreed that 1,000 migrant workers from India would
On March 31, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs released declassified diplomatic records from 1995 that drew wide domestic media attention. One revelation stood out: North Korea had once raised the possibility of diplomatic relations with Taiwan. In a meeting with visiting Chinese officials in May 1995, as then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) prepared for a visit to South Korea, North Korean officials objected to Beijing’s growing ties with Seoul and raised Taiwan directly. According to the newly released records, North Korean officials asked why Pyongyang should refrain from developing relations with Taiwan while China and South Korea were expanding high-level
Japan’s imminent easing of arms export rules has sparked strong interest from Warsaw to Manila, Reuters reporting found, as US President Donald Trump wavers on security commitments to allies, and the wars in Iran and Ukraine strain US weapons supplies. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling party approved the changes this week as she tries to invigorate the pacifist country’s military industrial base. Her government would formally adopt the new rules as soon as this month, three Japanese government officials told Reuters. Despite largely isolating itself from global arms markets since World War II, Japan spends enough on its own
When 17,000 troops from the US, the Philippines, Australia, Japan, Canada, France and New Zealand spread across the Philippine archipelago for the Balikatan military exercise, running from tomorrow through May 8, the official language would be about interoperability, readiness and regional peace. However, the strategic subtext is becoming harder to ignore: The exercises are increasingly about the military geography around Taiwan. Balikatan has always carried political weight. This year, however, the exercise looks different in ways that matter not only to Manila and Washington, but also to Taipei. What began in 2023 as a shift toward a more serious deterrence posture
RSS