President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should apologize to the nation for his failure to deliver on his 6-3-3 policies, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.
The “6-3-3” policy refers to Ma’s promise to attain an economic growth rate of 6 percent, lower unemployment to less than 3 percent and increase per capita income to US$30,000 by this year. The policy was Ma’s main campaign platform for the 2008 election.
Ma’s inaugural address four years ago started off with criticism of former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration, saying: “The people’s trust in the government has reached its nadir, the political manipulations of the government has skewed the core values of our society, the people have lost their sense of safety concerning the economy and international support has also been damaged to an unprecedented level,” Lu told a press conference yesterday.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
However, Ma has put the nation in exactly the position he criticized his predecessor for, Lu said.
Pointing to his appearances at this year’s Han Kuang military exercises, Lu said Ma was an unwillingly attendee and only spent six minutes in his final appearance at the exercises.
He spent more time going to events hosted by the National Women’s League than making any comments on the situation at the Scarborough Shoal — known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) in Taiwan — Taiping Island (太平島), Dongsha Island (東沙島) and the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), Lu said, referring to islets in the South and East China Seas where overlapping regional claims have caused tensions.
The Chen administration repeatedly claimed sovereignty over Dongsha and Taiping islands, so how does Ma explain his inaction, Lu said
Lu also made a number of recommendations to the president.
Premier SSean Chen's (陳冲) Cabinet should stay until the end of the year, because by then it would be reorganized allowing Ma to focus on political matters.
Ma should break the political barrier dividing the pan-green and pan-blue camps by reopening the probe into the 319 shooting against her and Chen on the eve of the 2004 election, she said.
Lu also suggested moving the Executive Yuan and the legislature to central or southern Taiwan to created a “dual capital,” to reduce the burden on Taipei and balance north-south development.
The Ma administration should review management salaries at government-funded agencies and corporations to reduce the number of “fat cats,” she said, adding that Ma should set an example by reducing his own salary.
Given the ongoing investigations into Taiwan Power Co, the administration should not increase electricity prices on June 10, she said.
She also called for construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), to be halted immediately because of continued concerns about its safety.
Translated by Jake Chung, staff writer
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