Remarks by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Sunday highlighted a lack of the “class and character” befitting an opposition party, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Culture and Communication Committee Director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday.
In comments on Sunday, Su said it was “surprising that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) still feels he is a good president, when public support for him has been low for a long time,” referring to Ma’s comments on Oct. 16.
According to Hsiao, Ma had been using the rankings from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) 2012 World Competitiveness Yearbook to encourage government officials.
Taiwan was ranked by the IMD as the seventh-most competitive in the world, with its infrastructure jumping up to 12th from 16th last year, and its administrative efficiency ranking fifth, up from 10th last year, and incidentally the best ranking the Taiwan government had been given in past years.
Hsiao said he wished Su would clarify what it meant to be “administratively capable” and for the economy to be “positively felt,” saying that during the DPP-led government between 2000 and 2008, countries or areas that had offered Taiwanese visa-waiver programs had flatlined at 54.
Within four years of taking power, the KMT had increased that number to 129, Hsiao said.
Su, a former premier, also said it had been an “oversight” for the DPP administration to fail to implement the economic reforms necessary to improve the nation, Hsiao said, adding that if Su was willing to attack Ma for being “incompetent and unfeeling,” then the same question should be asked of the DPP.
“Who was more incompetent? Who was more unfeeling?” Hsiao asked.
Ma’s original intention was to encourage the government not to rest on its laurels and to pick up the pace on things that needed to be done, but Su’s interpretation only goes to show that he is either detached from reality or he is purposefully misconstruing the president’s words and inciting confrontation within society, Hsaio said.
Hsiao said such an act showed a lack of the “class and character” befitting the opposition party, and was a sorry sight to see.
Hsiao pointed to the government’s recent accomplishments in obtaining a visa-waiver program from the US, an increase of foreign labor in domestic markets, a drop in fruit prices and a much publicized defense of the sovereignty claims the government has over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) as further proof of the government’s efficiency, adding that the government would continue to work on policies beneficial to the people.
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