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.
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is leading a delegation to China through Sunday. She is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing tomorrow. That date coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which marked a cornerstone of Taiwan-US relations. Staging their meeting on this date makes it clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to challenge the US and demonstrate its “authority” over Taiwan. Since the US severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, it has relied on the TRA as a legal basis for all
Taiwan ranks second globally in terms of share of population with a higher-education degree, with about 60 percent of Taiwanese holding a post-secondary or graduate degree, a survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed. The findings are consistent with Ministry of the Interior data, which showed that as of the end of last year, 10.602 million Taiwanese had completed post-secondary education or higher. Among them, the number of women with graduate degrees was 786,000, an increase of 48.1 percent over the past decade and a faster rate of growth than among men. A highly educated population brings clear advantages.
RSS