President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been a political star since entering politics. However, as he is slated to be inaugurated today, public support for him hit a record-low of 23 percent in the latest poll, released on Friday by the Chinese-language United Daily News.
The figure, compared with an average approval rate of between 60 percent and 70 percent following his inauguration in 2008, reflects a serious public backlash against his performance over the past four years.
A politician who has long paid great attention to his public image and tried hard to please the public, Ma made a 180o shift in attitude after he won re-election in January, as he vowed to leave a legacy and make bold reforms without the pressure of seeking re-election.
Ma subsequently introduced a series of policies that drew public ire. The policies — from the plan to relax the ban on beef containing ractopamine to electricity and fuel price hikes and the proposed capital gains tax — drew a growing public outcry.
Ma brushed off criticism that he lacked understanding of people’s pain and insisted on implementing the policies until the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) dramatic defeat in the Lugang Township (鹿港) mayoral by-election to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) last month prompted him to delay the electricity price hikes.
Ma’s critics describe him as a stubborn and arrogant politician who lacks communication and negotiation skills both as president and KMT chairman.
Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒), a political commentator from National Tunghua University, said previous victories in elections and popularity among pan-blue supporters have helped Ma sail through political storms in the past, despite his poor performance and problematic relations with the KMT’s local factions. However, with such low public support, times have changed for Ma, and even party members have started to turn their backs on him.
“The KMT legislative caucus refused to endorse the Cabinet’s draft bill on the capital gains tax, and it is a warning for Ma, because he is losing the reins even in his own party. His reluctance to communicate with party legislators is no news, but legislators will not be as cooperative as before because they cannot afford to ignore public opinion,” he said.
The KMT caucus strayed from the party line earlier this month when a government-proposed amendment seeking to conditionally relax a ban on imports of beef containing residue of the livestock feed additive ractopamine was voted down during a preliminary review because KMT Legislator Cheng Ju-fen (鄭汝芬) was deliberately absent.
Its open revolt continued as it blocked the Ministry of Finance’s version of a capital gains tax proposal the next day.
Even KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), who has been labeled a loyal soldier of Ma, complained about the Cabinet’s lack of communication with the legislature about its policies and said: “The KMT caucus will not do whatever the executive branch wants the caucus to do from now on.”
Talk of an “anti-Ma” force within the KMT also began to circulate after some party members suggested that Ma should resign as KMT chairman and focus on his duties as the president.
Political analyst Yang Tai-shun (楊泰順) said Ma, who won the presidential re-election in January with 51.6 percent of vote, suffered a public backlash in such a short time because he failed to promote major policies that truly benefit the public and demonstrate his leadership.
The government’s recent policies — on US beef imports, electricity and fuel price hikes and a capital gains tax — reflected Ma’s negligence of people’s pain and a flip-flop policy-making process, he said.
For example, it is necessary to adjust fuel and electricity prices to reflect market cost, but the Ma administration failed to immediately respond to the public outcry over the policy and did not present measures to handle the rising consumer goods prices that would result.
Although Ma later announced the government would adjust electricity prices in three stages instead, it only exposed the government’s flip-flops in policymaking and poor communication skills, he said.
Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華) of legislative watchdog Citizen Congress Watch said that Ma’s problem has always been acting arbitrarily and the problem could get worse during Ma’s second term, now that he is not seeking re-election.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS