A public opinion poll released yesterday showed most people do not trust lawmakers and law enforcement officials, and believe that not even a change of administration would change the situation.
Asked whether the judiciary is able to safeguard social justice and fairness, 69.1 percent of respondents said no, while only 17 percent said yes and 13.9 percent did not give an answer, the poll by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research showed.
The survey also found that 58.7 percent did not think law enforcement officials — including police, prosecutors and Investigation Bureau agents — enforced the law fairly, while 30.6 percent thought they did and 10.8 percent gave no answer.
Most respondents appeared to have given up on having a respectable judicial system, with 78.8 percent saying they did not believe there would ever be an independent judicial system in Taiwan, regardless of whether the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is in power.
As for the Legislative Yuan, most respondents appeared suspicious of lawmakers’ motives and interests.
Asked about KMT lawmakers, 24.6 percent of respondents said they work for the interests of their own families and factions, followed by corporates and specific interest groups at 23.6 percent and the KMT at 21.5 percent. Only 6.9 percent said KMT lawmakers have the interests of all people in mind and 6 percent said they work for their constituencies.
Trust in DPP lawmakers was also low, but respondents’ view on whose interests they uphold varies slightly. Working for the interests of their own families and factions also ranked first at 24.9 percent, followed by the DPP at 24.4 percent. However, only 8 percent linked DPP lawmakers with corporations and specific interest groups, while 14.9 percent believed they had the public interest in mind.
Meanwhile, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval rating plunged again after showing signs of life last month.
Ma had an approval rating of 14.8 percent, down 6.3 percentage points from the poll last month, and a disapproval rating of 74.3 percent, up 7.1 percentage points from last month.
Asked if Ma could crack down on corruption and build a clean government, 73.8 percent of respondents said he would not be able to do that.
Ma’s latest credibility rating was 18 percent, with 66.5 percent of those who took part in the poll saying they did not find Ma trustworthy.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) approval rating also dropped to 15.6 percent, 3.7 percentage points lower from the previous poll.
The survey, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday last week, collected 1,008 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS