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Public displeasure rising over policy flip-flops: official

Official gaffes and policy flip-flops are among the many reasons for the government’s low approval rating, a government minister said yesterday.

Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Minister Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) told the legislature’s Judiciary, Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday that the commission had analyzed the factors behind public dissatisfaction with the performance of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration.

These included constant changes in government policies, improper remarks by government officials, weak and vague defense of administrative policies by government officials, and poor negotiations between government agencies and the legislature as well as the media.

“It is not a scientific analysis, but rather a political judgment,” Jiang said, adding that the conclusions the commission arrived at were not much different from those mentioned by the media.

Jiang made the remarks in response to a question by KMT Legislator Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) asking Jiang whether the commission knew the approval rating of the administration had continued to drop.

Liao said the crux of the problem was government officials’ lack of confidence, adding that some did not have confidence in themselves because they lacked professional expertise and were afraid of upsetting the public.

“So they constantly change their mind — not to mention that they implement government policies poorly,” he said.

Liao, who proposed on Wednesday that high-ranking government officials forfeit their annual bonuses if Cabinet approval ratings remained low, said yesterday that he would not slash the budget earmarked for such purposes, but it would be a nice gesture if they chose to do so.

Asked by KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) about his thoughts on Liao’s proposal, Jiang said that approval ratings were just part of an official’s overall performance.

Fai concurred, saying opinion polls could be misleading because some officials were competent but might not be good at “grandstanding” or be “good-looking” enough to score high on the polls.

KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) disagreed, however, saying that government officials were “arrogant, bureaucratic and egoistic” and afraid to shoulder responsibility and that he did not see any exceptions.

While Jiang did not reveal the result of the commission’s most recent poll on the approval ratings of Ma and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), he said it was “similar to those polls conducted by other outlets using scientific methods,” with a difference of plus or minus 5 percent.

A poll released by Global Views magazine last month showed that Ma’s approval rating dropped to its lowest point in his political career — 24.9 percent.

The poll conducted by the commission in August showed that Ma’s approval rating slipped from 70 percent in March to 47 percent. A separate poll conducted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in August showed Ma’s approval rate was 37 percent.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) and Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) criticized the commission for selectively publishing its results.
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