A-bian (
After hiding his true nature under a brilliant disguise for quite a period of time, A-bian has been unable to help letting the veil slip recently. In the fourth press conference after his inauguration, he first lashed out at Ma Ying-jeou (
A-bian's change of mood may mean that his character has remained unchanged. It may also imply that he has consolidated his power and now fears nothing -- that is to say, he is already impatient, fed up, and ready to take up the reins at the front line himself. He made clear that he would not rule out holding financial meetings under the National Security Council, a warning that he might soon be personally at the helm of financial policy.
But would it make a difference if President Chen did this? The top financial, accounting and economic officials in Premier Tang Fei's (唐飛) Cabinet are the same bunch of people who served as A-bian's financial strategists during the presidential election.
The financial meetings at the Presidential Office may indeed produce different results from those achieved by the Cabinet to date, but only under two preconditions. First, A-bian must have his own clear judgement on financial policies, as did former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who had a background in agriculture and economics. Second, A-bian must employ financial experts as strategists or consultants.
The first condition is obviously impossible. The second will be realized only when A-bian is able to rally a new group of consultants or strategists. But the question is where can he find so many experts other than the Cabinet's top financial officials? If the new consultants are much better than the current incumbents, why not let them just take over and join the Cabinet?
During Chiang Ching-kuo's (
The heyday of the "Six Financial Gurus" has gone. Where have all the experts gone ?
If A-bian is able to find some world-famous financial scholars like the "Six Financial Gurus" to serve as his think tank, then the financial meetings at the Presidential Office will have a raison d'etre of their own. The new gurus will do research on structural policies for A-bian, or provide policy-making suggestions of a technical nature now and again. Without such functions, the meetings will only add to political red tape.
If A-bian really wishes to stay at the helm, tackling financial policies by himself, he must start looking for his own "Six Financial Gurus" otherwise he would do better not to get involved. His involvement may aggravate the current situation giving rise to further chaos in which the layman leads the professional instead of the other way round, and professional values are trivialized by power.
Wang Chien-chuang is president of The Journalist magazine.
Translated by Gatian Wang
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