From the so-called "Cultural Revolution" uproar to the Fubon shark-fin banquets scandal, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"The aftermath of the scandal was unexpected!" Such exclamations, which were aired since the Nari typhoon had hit Taipei hard in 2001 and had costed 84 lives nationwide, resurfaced during the SARS crisis during which Taipei was the epicenter, and again now.
The one crisis after the other meant that "it was an accident" could no longer be used as an explanation. Apart from Ma and his team's inability to handle crisis situations, their lack of confidence, substance and their mode of appointment are the real sources of the problems.
Model student
Ma has always been the "model student" among politicians, because of his great academic credentials, happy marital life, incorruptible virtue and comprehensive political experience. This meant that not only did he ascend to the top, but he has also become the brightest star in the pan-blue camp's universe.
Taipei residents not only gave him opportunities to renew his term of office as the city's mayor, but further cheered him on with 870,000 winning votes.
This show of confidence led to Ma's carelessness toward many issues, his team's insensitivity, if not ignorance, and professional arrogance.
Because he believed that his integrity would not be questioned, Ma attended the banquet at Fubon's facilities after the merger of TaipeiBank and Fubon.
Because he believed that his image was untouchable, when questioned by legislative members of the city council, he replied mockingly "we didn't play mahjong or accepted massages from sighted masseuses." Scoffing at Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Reckless
This reckless manner of handling matters could be seen in Ma's governing style. When Typhoon Nari approached, no one even sensed the severity of the situation when the first pumping station was swamped, eventually resulting in the biggest flood in Taipei's history.
No one became alarmed about numerous minor incidents on Taipei's MRT system and the city government did not begin to deal with the maintenance issue until a major breakdown occurred. Taipei's traffic has been in the care of Ma's government for five years, yet the public has begun to complain about the worsening of traffic jams due to a lack of attention from the city council.
Excessive confidence turns into arrogance. Rather than seeking the cause in itself, the city council blamed stall vendors' lack of cooperation for a delay in the opening of Jian-chen Circle. On the day of the opening, the installation of eight stalls was not yet complete, but the City council insisted on opening the unfinished facility.
The closure of Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital triggered the bursting of the SARS storm all over Taiwan. However, the media's investigative reportage day after day was indeed partly misleading and exaggerated.
No investigation
Yet the city council did not investigate whether they have provided adequate information or have communicated with the media efficiently. Instead it blamed the Taiwanese media for not being cooperative, unlike the Singaporean media who collaborated with the Singaporean government in their "non-reportage," thereby returning to the authoritarian era during which the media was a tool of the government.
The Taipei Fire Station has a list of areas where it is difficult to execute rescue operations during disasters. During the past five years, Ma's team has not reflected upon improvements on their part. Instead, the team accuses councilors and residents of not co-operating, which results in the prolonged existence of 400 unreachable city areas.
As to the infamous congested and disorderly traffic situation heavily criticized by the media, before the Taipei Bureau of Transportation had come up with solutions, the city government stated that the number of telephone complaints on the matter had not been as numerous as had been reported.
`Cultural revolution'
Ma's "Cultural Revolution" talk at the Executive Yuan was without much contemplation, but not accidental, as he was concerned about Taiwanese businesspeople.
Ma has spent a lot of time convening with Taiwanese businesspeople in closed-door meetings; therefore, their thoughts are deeply ingrained in his mind. Consequently, an unintentional joke by a Taiwanese businessman was miscomprehended by Ma as a real concern for Taiwan's unruly political situation. Ma even emotionally expressed these concerns on the floor of the Executive Yuan.
No reflection
During the Taipei City mayoral election last year, Ma was criticized by others as running for "Hong Kong Chief." His first reaction was that it was a vilification by other candidates; however, he did not reflect upon why he left others with such an impression. Maybe it was because of his foreign-guest list for meetings in 1995, which consisted mainly of dignitaries from Hong Kong.
Although the meetings were known for opinion exchanges, those meetings were seen as more of "Ma's fan club" get-togethers. In order to revive Taipei's tourism industry, not only did Ma have meals with the Hong Kong guests, but also accompanied them on visits to Hwashi Street, where Ma took pictures and signed autographs.
By doing so, Ma had become a "Tourism Mayor." The Taiwanese media had conflicting views on this extravagant treatment of guests from Hong Kong.
Warnings ignored
A simple remark by a Taiwanese businessman made Ma realize that if the Central Government did not take precautions, the consequences would be unthinkable. However, he never reflects upon his style of administration that allowed, within the past five years, many people to warn him about his administration, only to be ignored.
Ma's former assistants included King Pu-tsung (
Uproar
The uproar caused by Ma in the past three weeks has caused some people to worry about his political future. However, it is not Ma's political future that one should be concerned about, but Ma's administration within the next three years in conjunction with such a team of assistants.
Ma's poor manner of dealing with the Fubon crisis would only taint his personal reputation, but his unwise dealings during the SARS and Typhoon Nari crises caused damage to the lives of Taipei residents.
Ma's failure to establish confidence will only affect his personal political journey; however, the city government's poor policies on crediting and discrediting civil servants, as well as the unfruitful political performance, will affect Taipei's development in the next 10 years.
If Ma's team continues to claim that it will review its administration but does not take any action, not only should Ma worry about Taipei's future, but so should the entire Taipei population.
Translated by Stephanie Wen and Cody Yiu
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching