Political analysts close to former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said the first of a series of presidential policy presentations by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates were “dull” and “pointless,” though one said the process was an improvement on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which was unlikely to offer a similar show because no one from within the party dared challenge President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Wong Ming-hsien (翁明賢), director of Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies and a member of the Institute for National Development founded by Lu, said that while some people might think the criticism of the three DPP contenders in Saturday’s policy presentations was too harsh, the main reason for doing so was to point out the problems in their platforms in the hope that they would do better next time.
“Maybe the process was too peaceful yesterday [Saturday], while newspaper reports differ greatly [in their coverage],” Wong said. “We are just offering a different angle for the public to ponder and hope they [the DPP candidates] will perform better during their remaining three appearances so voters can make a more informed choice.”
While the other debates will also be held in Taipei, Wong said it would be a better idea to hold them in central and southern Taiwan. He also proposed that the contenders speak Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) and that the programs be broadcast live and not limited to Formosa TV.
Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒), a political analyst at National Tunghua University, said former DPP chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) was a fauve, or “wild beast,” who was messy in his painting, but had an orderly mind. Former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) was an “impressionist,” who had many changing elements in his work, while Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who took a leave of absence as party chairperson to run in the party primaries, was an “abstract painter,” whose comments were “hard to figure out” and whose arrogance showed, if only unconsciously.
Shih said that while it was disappointing to see Tsai and Su sidestep the question of fixing the country’s economy, he gave Hsu high marks for his “political sense” and “realistic approach” to Taiwan’s diplomatic dilemma.
If Hsu were a prophet who knew the best place to build a -skyscraper, Shih said, Su was good at supervising the construction project and Tsai’s specialty was laying the tiles.
“Next time, I’d like to hear them tell us whether they can design a building,” he said.
Shih blamed their “lackluster” performances on the DPP’s method for holding its primary, which he said was subject to KMT manipulation because the candidates will be selected through telephone polls.
“It is like sending a marathon runner to a sprint race or asking a boxer to pull his punches because it is a friendly bout,” he said. “Do we really feel comfortable letting them run the country? I doubt it.”
Lin Kien-tsu (林健次), a professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute and Department of International Trade, said Saturday’s program was “plain, stiff, dull and banal.”
“It wasn’t a debate. It was more like a speech contest organized by the KMT, which is usually boring and lifeless,” he said.
Lin praised Su as the most “politically correct” among the three contestants, but said Su avoided many issues and failed to present any concrete measures to tackle them.
Tsai was better than Su, Lin said, adding that she recognized the problems and was specific about possible solutions. She was also straightforward about her criticism of China and clear about building a nuclear-free homeland.
Hsu’s advantage was that he was explicit about his China policy and social welfare plans. He proposed further opening up the local market to Chinese investments, students and tourists and taking care of the poor and disadvantaged.
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