President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has come down with seven “illnesses”: incompetence, inefficiency, chaotic policymaking, apathy and numbness, money-wasting addiction, an inability to fulfill campaign promises, and a tendency to build trouble-ridden public infrastructure, according to a pamphlet recently published by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The pamphlet, titled A Diagnosis of the Ma Administration’s Illnesses (馬政府有病臨床診斷書), cites government statistics and documents to identify seven problems plaguing the Ma administration during its oft-criticized rule over the past five years.
While the annual budgets under Ma’s government have been far larger than yearly budgets during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) term, the nation has seen a decline in domestic investment, a lack of meaningful infrastructure projects, a higher unemployment rate and a drop in real incomes since Ma took office in 2008, it says.
“The Ma administration’s annual expenditures average NT$1.92 trillion [US$64.8 billion], about NT$272.9 billion more than the NT$1.65 trillion spent annually by Chen’s government,” it says.
“However, under Ma’s reign, the nation’s real wages have deteriorated to the level of 14 years ago, the average GDP growth rate has dropped below 3 percent, the unemployment rate has shot up to more than 4 percent and domestic fixed investment has been halved to NT$0.52 trillion, from NT$1.05 trillion during Chen’s term,” it says.
The pamphlet also accuses the Ma administration of being apathetic toward its problematic policymaking and government officials’ “careless mistakes,” citing the collapse of the judicial system, the recent spate of food scares, the severance of diplomatic ties between Taiwan and the Republic of the Gambia and the administration’s 12 downward revisions of GDP growth forecasts since last year.
“In spite of everything, no one has apologized or stepped down to take political responsibility over these matters,” the pamphlet says.
The Ma administration has sought to whitewash its incompetence by holding large scale money-consuming festive events, signifying its addiction to wasting taxpayer money, the pamphlet says.
The economic benefits of such events are usually not proportional to the money spent on them, the brochure said, and the public facilities constructed for them often ended up becoming “mosquito-breeding sites.”
The brochure cites as an example the “Ma Ying-Jeou Hall” (馬英九奮鬥館) constructed by the Miaoli County Government after Ma took office, which cost NT$30 million to build and NT$170 million to expropriate lands and repair nearby roads.
“The [Miaoli] government said at the time that the hall could help generate an annual tourism revenue of NT$200 million for the county, but it has been closed to the public for some time for ‘interior renovations,’” the pamphlet says.
The brochure also called the Taipei International Flora Expo in 2010 the biggest “money pit” in history, as it cost the government approximately NT$13.6 billion, a sum equivalent to the nation’s total annual budget for flood control projects.
More alarming is the inferior quality of public infrastructure projects constructed by the Ma administration, the pamphlet said, specifying a 30m crack found on the 40km Wugu-Yangmei Overpass in August, just four months after it was opened.
The Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau attributed the crack to contractors using poor-quality asphalt.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it