Academics gloomy over Su's crime pledge

"It would create even more chaos if he [Su] was to step down, as the police force would get downhearted and any new premier would have to start all over again."

Wong Seng-lee, National Taipei University professor

Judging the results of a survey gauging views of public safety, academics were pessimistic yesterday whether Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) would be able to improve the nation's public law and order within six months as he promised last month.

According to a survey released yesterday by the Institute for National Policy Research (INPR), a private think tank, a total of 19 percent of all respondents were satisfied with the current level of public safety while another 77.3 percent were dissatisfied. The rest made no comment.

The survey, the second of its kind this month, was conducted on April 16 and 17, and received 1,069 valid samples from residents aged 20 or older nationwide.

In total, 65.17 percent of those questioned said they did not believe that the premier could fulfill his promise while 22.53 percent of them said they believed Su would be able to deliver. The rest made no comment.

negative responses

Noting the high percentage of negative responses in the results, National Taipei University's (台北大學) Department of Public Administration and Policy Prof-essor Wong Seng-lee (翁興利) said "Su's promise [on this issue] may become a problem for him.

Wong he believed the premier's words were a "guarantee" rather than a "promise."

"If the premier simply wishes to keep his promise by stricter law enforcement, then I think he will have a hard time because reducing crime rates takes more than just law enforcement," Wong said.

He added that if Su really stepped down simply because he failed to keep his word, it would not be a good thing for the country.

"It would create even more chaos if he was to step down, as the police force would get downhearted and any new premier would have to start all over again," Wong said.

telephone scams

The survey also suggested that 83.52 percent of respondents said that they or their family had received a call from telephone scammers within the past month, while 79.61 percent of those responding to the survey believed that drug abuse was a serious problem in Taiwan.

Hsieh Wen-yan (謝文彥), a vice professor at the Central Police University's Department of Crime Prevention and Correction, suggested that to attain his goal, the premier and the government should try to revitalize the economy, strictly enforce the law and encourage the public to organize more family events with family members.

Academia Sinica Research Fellow Lin Cheng-yi (林正義), who chaired yesterday's press conference, said another two questionnaires would be organized before the premier's deadline is due.