After Taiwan achieved full democratization, all types of popular surveys seemed to appear. But it is sometimes unclear just what conditions and assumptions underlie the questions asked in these surveys and therefore extreme caution needs to be exercised when interpreting their results.
According to one recent survey, the military was considered the most efficient organization to take part in rescue missions after the 921 earthquake, with private organizations -- including the foreign rescue teams -- ranking second in terms of efficiency. The central and local governments were considered to have been helpful to the rescue and relief efforts by only one-third of those interviewed.
Of course, the results of the survey deserve review by the relevant government departments. All facts seem to indicate that the government has room for significant improvement in certain areas. However, we should not conclude that this means the government performed poorly compared to private organizations.
People's demands and expectations toward the government and relief organizations are very different. A private organization deserves to be praised for helping even just one person. The government, on the other hand, should be criticized for failure to do its job in any respect. Since the government is responsible for managing the entire crisis, more controversy naturally surrounds its performance.
Top government officials were criticized by some for attempting to score political points by publicly inspecting quake-devastated areas, yet residents of equally-devastated areas not visited by officials were unhappy for not having been visited.
The government is responsible for providing relief funds to victims, yet there is simply no way to conduct a fair distribution that satisfies everyone. For sure, someone would criticize the manner in which it's done.
This situation is completely different from that of private charities entitled to decide for themselves their course of action.
Those in power should humbly accept criticism, but people should not abuse statistics and figures generated by public surveys as a weapon to attack government personnel.
Besides, the military is part of the government, and it participated in the relief efforts under the government's instructions. It is inappropriate to draw a line between government and military personnel sent to the front line and then question the assistance provided by the government.
Not long ago, another survey said that the rescue efforts by the Taipei City and Taipei County governments received a positive reaction from residents. On the other hand, the level of satisfaction shown by residents of Taichung and Nantou counties was relatively lower.
But Taipei City had so many resources in hand and just one collapsed building, making it possible for the deputy mayor to supervise the actions of a large number of rescue workers from start to finish. In contrast, tens of thousands of buildings suffered major structural damage in Nantou County. Even if all the civil servants were mobilized, there could have not been enough for each one to be assigned a house each. It is therefore simple to see that the local governments of Taichung and Nantou counties could not possibly appear to the public to have done such a sterling job as the Taipei City government.
Based upon this, popular surveys may, to certain degree, reflect the perceptions of the people and deserve to be taken into consideration by the relevant government personnel.
But one should not rely on these surveys as a basis for accurately comparing the efficiency and contributions made in different areas by government personnel and private organizations.
Chen Po-chih is a professor of economics at National Taiwan University.
When US budget carrier Southwest Airlines last week announced a new partnership with China Airlines, Southwest’s social media were filled with comments from travelers excited by the new opportunity to visit China. Of course, China Airlines is not based in China, but in Taiwan, and the new partnership connects Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport with 30 cities across the US. At a time when China is increasing efforts on all fronts to falsely label Taiwan as “China” in all arenas, Taiwan does itself no favors by having its flagship carrier named China Airlines. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is eager to jump at
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
Liberals have wasted no time in pointing to Karol Nawrocki’s lack of qualifications for his new job as president of Poland. He has never previously held political office. He won by the narrowest of margins, with 50.9 percent of the vote. However, Nawrocki possesses the one qualification that many national populists value above all other: a taste for physical strength laced with violence. Nawrocki is a former boxer who still likes to go a few rounds. He is also such an enthusiastic soccer supporter that he reportedly got the logos of his two favorite teams — Chelsea and Lechia Gdansk —
RSS