More than 20 people protested in front of the Presidential Office yesterday to demand the Cabinet resign en masse to take responsibility for the government’s poor performance in Typhoon Morakot relief efforts.
Led by Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲), spokesman for Green Party Taiwan, the protestors said a complete Cabinet overhaul, not small-scale changes as the Executive Yuan has hinted at, was necessary to ensure the success of the post-typhoon rebuilding process.
“The Cabinet has already amply demonstrated its inability and incompetence to see Taiwan through a major natural disaster, let alone Taiwan’s future,” Pan said.
Many top officials, including Environmental Protection Agency Minister Stephen Shen (沈世雄), Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) and Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Chang Jen-hsiang (章仁香) should step down because of their slow response to Typhoon Morakot, as well as their unsatisfactory performance since joining the Cabinet in May last year.
Morakot made landfall in southern Taiwan on Aug. 8, destroying hundreds of homes and obliterating several villages in mountainous areas.
The official death toll stands at more than 600 dead, with most of the victims coming from Aboriginal communities.
The government’s response has elicited sharp criticism from the public, which prompted President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to promise to make changes in the Cabinet line-up, but it seems likely that Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) will keep his job.
“Liu must step down because of his poor leadership skills,” Pan said.
“It is illogical for the leader of a bad team to excuse himself and remain in his job,” he said.
Although Ma has offered public apologies on several occasions, he has yet to admit to any wrongdoing by the government, Pan said.
One of the major reasons for the massive amount of destruction in the south was bad government policies, such as the ineffective Water Act (水利法) and the forced relocation of Aboriginal communities to mountain regions.
Yesterday’s protest was supported by 15 local non-governmental organizations and environmental and conservation civic groups.
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