Sun, Apr 27, 2003 page8

• Fight for the welfare of Taiwanese

  • By the Liberty Times editorial
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  While there is still no conclusion to the discussions concerning President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) running mate for his re-election, the fact that the election will be a duel between the pan-green and pan-blue camps is a foregone conclusion.

  Former US vice president Al Gore has already indicated that he will not run in the next presidential election because he thought it would not be very constructive to have the voters face the same issues that were discussed in the previous election.

  The political values and environment are different. Therefore, the voters will more than certainly face the same disputes and candidates in the presidential election next year.

  The same group of individuals ran in the same race. Perhaps this is the inevitable under the circumstances and perhaps it reflects their lust for power, but the voters will have to judge whether this is the case on their own.

  However, during the match between pan-green and pan-blue, respect for historical reality and national interests must be paid. This is because the development of political democracy in Taiwan is still in its infancy. Irrespective of whether it is in terms of the democratic mechanism, the nation's experiences and its culture, there is still woeful inadequacy. This obviously gives politicians room to make impassioned appeals and practice populism.

  Call-in shows showcase extremely controversial and inflammatory topics for discussion with highly representative figures who give highly prejudicial speeches and these shows do so with the belief that truth can only be discovered through dialectic. The real goal is to twist and shape the direction of the views of the society at large.

  On the floor of the Legislative Yuan, rarely does one see rational debate in discussions of public policies. Both the ruling and opposition camps indulge themselves in wars of words. Against a backdrop of twisted media environment, most lawmakers neglect their real job, that is, to monitor the government on the behalf of the people. Instead, they are preoccupied with making spectacles of themselves in order to get in the spotlight and to build up personal fame.

  Will such coarse and uncivilized political culture be reflected in the upcoming presidential election? There may be no answer to that question just yet, but there is reason to worry in view of some of the talk coming from those interested in running and members of the parties to which they belong.

  In the evolution of nativism, whether one loves this country or not is no longer merely an ideological issue. Rather, it is something to be judged based on one's conduct and words. In other words, "to love Taiwan" has become the national consensus. No politician dare to oppose this ideal. Therefore, there is no longer the need to waste social resources in discussing whether everyone loves Taiwan.

  Especially in the case of a politician, it is something to be judged based on whether his or her conduct, speeches and policy proposals are consistent with the welfare and interests of the local people. This is the best litmus test for any politician.

  For example, irrespective of whether they support "keeping root in Taiwan," or "investing in China," both camps will claim the only thing they have in mind is the national welfare. Those who advocate boldly going west will never ever concede that doing so will only lead to a crumbled economy. They even pitched the globalized business strategy under which "production takes place in China, and R&D in Taiwan," claiming that this nation's industries will upgrade and that Taiwan will become the business headquarters of the Asia-Pacific region. So, in their eyes, the industrial exodus west demonstrate a love for Taiwan as well.

  Under the circumstances, the only thing one can do is to rely on pragmatism and objective statistics in proving that not only is the industrial exodus westward destroyed plans to make the nation a regional business operating center. It will only increase the number of unemployed individuals, speed up capital outflow, worsen the decline of the domestic consumerism and increase the number of nonperforming loans by companies that have moved to China.

  Putting things into perspective is the only way to refute the absurd theory that the industrial exodus to the west shows one's love for Taiwan. Therefore, when all the candidates are making seemingly patriotic speeches about how much they love Taiwan, one mustn't fall for these tricks. It is imperative to find the real answer from their policy platform on cross-strait relationships.

  All the candidates make big speeches about how they are not out for the interests of either themselves or their parties. But whether a political party is in fact disregarding public interests for party interests is a matter that should be carefully scrutinized.

  In reality, some feuds between parties are a part of campaign strategy than over national interests. As a result, the focus of polarization is often ideological. Even public-policy-making cannot escape this fate. The recent impasse between the ruling and opposition camps over the NT$50 billion job bill is the best example to demonstrate this point.

  During an economic downturn, the government is providing NT $50 billion to expand public construction projects, thereby generating more than 100,000 jobs, decreasing the number of unemployed individuals and stimulating economic growth.

  Perhaps such endeavors may not be able to sustain the long-term impacts, but they can at least offer immediately relief to those in dire straits. The ruling and opposition camps should cast aside their differences and the old grudges to make sure that projects come through, so as to truly benefit the people.

  Yet, they become deadlocked over whether to scrap the ceiling on funds that the government can raise by issuing bonds and how to distribute the funds. The focus of their skepticism is not whether the fund can indeed help revive the economy but whether the opposition camp would be able to use the issue to win votes.

  In other words, neither the ruling nor the opposition camps think in terms the real purposes to be served by the fund. Instead, they tend to second guess the other side's motive. They do not debate about the economy, but fight to win elections. If things keep up this way, the various government construction projects may just have to be halted on the eve of the presidential election.

  The beauty of democracy is the power of the people. But, the down side is the overwhelming emphasis that politicians place on winning votes. All the policy proposals are made for the purpose of luring votes. As a result, endeavors incapable of producing immediate benefits, such as structural reforms and the infrastructure constructions, have no appeals for the political parties.

  Some policies that are capable of improving the lives of people may in fact be boycotted, making implementation difficult, because they may win brownie points for the ruling party. The way that things are conducted within the legislature and the way that the opposition and ruling camps boycott each other's bills, without any regard for the substantive contents of these bills, indicate that the battle between pan-blue and pan-green has become irrational.

  The drum is already beating for the presidential election next year. The vicious fight will only get worse. People are supposed to elect the best person among all the candidates, rather than the least rotten apple. It is definitely against the goal and spirit of political democracy to deliberately boycott and obstruct government policy implementation so as to make one's enemy look incompetent.

  An appeal is hereby made to all camps that while the presidential election may be approa-ching, the Cabinet and the Legislative Yuan should still run on course and the ruling and opposition camps must work hard to revive the economy. Leave behind the fever and obsession of elections. Fight for the welfare of the people of Taiwan.
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