Sat, Aug 06, 2011 page3

• INTERVIEW: Tsai, more mature DPP hopes to build up public’s trust

  In an interview on Tuesday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen told reporters Tzou Jiing-wen and Lee Hsin-fang from the Chinese-language ‘Liberty Times’ (the sister newspaper of the ‘Taipei Times’), that what Taiwan needs is a leader who can see the opportunities and challenges globalization has brought. Moreover, Tsai said, the government must be professional, transparent and open to the participation of the public

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  Liberty Times: What do you think is currently the greatest problem facing Taiwan? What kind of leadership does Taiwan need?

  Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文): Aside from the issues of pro-independence and pro-unification, the country has to face the social issue that is gradually surfacing as a result of globalization; the exacerbation of uneven income distribution.

  Although the rate of economic growth in Taiwan through globalization could be maintained at a certain level, it has caused many economic activities to move outward, exacerbating unemployment and decreasing the number of jobs. Therefore, the nation is faced with some necessary and drastic changes to the conventional thought patterns that guide public policy.

  The Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] is familiar with the situation when Taiwan was first exposed to the world market in the ’60s and ’70s, when there were no “newly rising” countries to -compete with. Today, however, we are faced with globalization, in addition to a situation where there are many other newly rising countries. So we need a leader who is familiar with globalization and a leader who can give the nation a role in a globalized world; a leader who can shape policies to meet the challenges that globalization brings.

  If you’re not in tune with globalization and the challenges it could bring, then policies could be wrongly applied, which is what has happened over the past three years.

  The KMT is used to being an authoritarian government and therefore it cannot effectively embrace democratic [government] functions such as professionalism, transparency and public participation in the government.

  A modernized government does not need long periods of decision-making and the process of decision-making should be conducted transparently and be open to public scrutiny.

  Everyone knows about crisis management, but everyone has forgotten that crisis management is dependent on long-term planning and the role of national development. If there is no long-term planning, then there cannot be effective short-term crisis management.

  The current administration is one that hasn’t looked toward long-term planning or a long-term vision, so it often finds itself in a tight spot when dealing with short-term crisis management.

  A future administration must build a modern government with the aforementioned functions and characteristics.

  The guiding spirit of the DPP’s soon-to-be-published “10-year political outline” is to look at the country in terms of long-term planning.

  I must stress that a modernized leader must first be aware of globalization trends and know the challenges globalization poses to the nation.

  Second, a leader must be able to see the role of the nation in the face of globalization and place our nation in the most advantageous position.

  Third, a leader must know how to maximize the benefits of globalization and think of ways to exclude potential risks.

  Fourth, a leader must possess a long-term outlook and take long-term planning into consideration when shaping policies so that the government has a full view [of the situation].

  Fifth, a leader must have a modernized government. It must be professional, transparent and actively participated in by the public.

  Many people think that they have to follow the decision of these leaders, but in so doing they forget that there are two levels to a leader’s decision: Their view and judgment of the matter and their political capability, meaning whether their policy would be accepted by the public and whether it could be implemented.

  In an authoritarian era, because of centralized power, the government has extensive political capabilities. In a democratic society, however, political capability comes from the trust of the public, or the support and identification of the general public toward your ideals and values.

  We must familiarize ourselves with the build-up of a leader’s political capability by letting the public participate in and influence how the country is governed and I believe that such a method of leadership is suited for the nation’s next generation.

  LT: If you win the election, how would you enact what you have just said?

  Tsai: First, you have to have a stable governing system at the ground level; that was what we have lacked [in the former DPP administration]. At that time, the party didn’t have a majority in the legislature and we had little administrative experience. The way of accruing political power then was to aim at what the people identified with.

  However, in the future, it will be different.

  We have to build-up people’s belief in the government through persuasive reasoning. One against many doesn’t work anymore, you need to reach out through your team. In that case, it is not a matter of trusting just one leader, but trusting an entire team.

  In the past, everyone focused on the leader; if the leader failed, then everything disappeared.

  In truth, the governing administrative team is where political power should be developed. The team must be professional and it must be representative of the public’s trust, which is an important part of a democratic society. The team has to meet the expectations of the majority and the team has to include people representing different perspectives to provide a wider view.

  As to what I have that is different from other leaders? Actually, that’s whatever the public finds me, isn’t it? I do not have a strong political background, but I do have many years of experience communicating with others and a long history of engaging with the government in both KMT and DPP teams. I have become very familiar with governmental agencies.

  A lot of the government elites have grown up with my policies. Take [former minister of economics affairs] Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥), for example. When I first met her, she was deputy director of the Industry Development Bureau, and we had worked together before.

  Taking a look at many of the exceptional people in this nation, many were groomed from that period and I grew up with them.

  So we need to find a leader who is familiar with these people and things, to bring change. If the leadership does not understand, then they cannot [bring about] change.

  At the same time, we need to be mindful of the type people that the next generation needs. No matter where they come from, they should be able to bypass politically oriented thinking and work together, which is what this society needs if it is to change.

  Part two of this interview will be published tomorrow.

  Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
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