Mon, May 31, 2004 page8

• DPP must be true to its ideas, ideals

  • By Peng Pai-hsien 彭百顯
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  On May 20, under the leadership of its chairman, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) began its second four-year period in government. With this historical choice, the people of Taiwan have affirmed Chen's slogan "believe in Taiwan, persist in reform" and put an end to the longstanding nightmarish monopolization of Taiwan's politics and economy by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). We therefore believe there is a national consensus reaching across party lines that Chen's most important task, apart from consolidating national security, national defense and diplomacy, is to actively work toward improving the economy.

  Taiwan's economy is certain to face a challenging international economic environment in the 21st century. The nation should unite and be flexible in response to sudden future changes. Given its control over resource allocation, Chen's government should make particular preparations for and propose strategies capable of leading the nation in the face of challenge and generating good economic results.

  Facing the immediate international situation, Taiwan should first of all prepare for stiff competition resulting from economic globalization. Every nation, industrialized or developing, does its utmost to promote economic growth, and even the communist world is now casting off its rigid "-isms" and dogma and is turning to market economics. The government is responsible for proposing strategies to deal with Taiwan's survival and development in the face of global competition. We believe that one important economic issue Chen and his government must deal with is proposing a global economic strategy for Taiwan as it becomes integrated into the international community.

  Taiwan cannot hide its head in the sand for ideological reasons, but must identify with Asia and accept the fact that China is finally about to take over from Japan as Asia's biggest economic power. Where does Taiwan position itself in this changing situation? And, in particular, the 2008 timetable for writing a new constitution is certain to intensify cross-strait tension. What will the resulting situation be? These are challenges to Taiwan's economy.

  Furthermore, the question of whether Chen's new government will be able to consolidate public trust in the economy will be crucial to building a soaring Taiwanese economy. It is therefore necessary to review and affirm the key importance of economy and human resources. People with economic talent cannot all be trained in one fell swoop, and talented individuals are not at anyone's beck and call. Trampling over talent is a terrible waste of resources and a loss for the society.

  It is generally recognized that the DPP's talent structure is tilted toward law and politics and that the party lacks expert economic talent. A responsible party should pay long-term attention to the training of economic talent.

  The public's view of the importance a party attaches to the economy and its ability to solve economic problems is an important part of building social trust. This is an area where the Chen government has to change. Be it the tang wai movement or the DPP, their historical inability to acknowledge the importance of economic issues has meant that Taiwan's democracy movement has always had to play the role of an opposition party.

  When it comes to the DPP's performance in the economic arena, I remember when I, Chen, Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Lu Hsiu-yi (盧修一), Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) and 16 other DPP members were first elected to the legislature 14 or 15 years ago. During the first legislative session, Chen Shui-bian served as caucus whip, and I served as convener of the caucus' budget team, writing the "DPP Caucus 1990 Budget White Paper." This was the first important step toward the opposition's participation in the national budget review, where we attacked the government from the point of view of resource allocation. At the time, this won a certain level of recognition among the middle class.

  During the second legislative session, Hsieh served as caucus whip. I served as convener of the caucus' finance and economics group, where I planned a series of public hearings called "Diagnosing Taiwan's Economy." Participants included several well-known scholars and 30 of Taiwan's most outstanding economic experts. In the conservative environment of the time, this group changed the way many people viewed the DPP.

  I was also responsible for creating the hearing report for the caucus. At 11 hearings over three months, we gave Taiwan a first peek at the DPP's attempts at diagnosing the national economy. Many of these experts have later gone on to become important members of Chen's government and national policy team. Three years later, Hsu Tien-tsai (許添財) joined our ranks, and the DPP's financial and economic record impressed on the public the idea that the DPP was a possible future ruling party.

  Looking back at the difficulties during these pioneering days, I cannot help hoping that the DPP will be able to build on the spirit of its days in opposition, when, despite its weakness, the party managed to gain a correct understanding of Taiwan's social economy.

  I also hope the DPP will be able to remember that during those early days it could only rely on its influence in the legislature to impress the party's potential on the public. Gradually building wide public support on that foundation, it then finally defeated the KMT to become the ruling party.

  The government must now respect the promises it made when asking for voter support during the presidential election campaign. It must respect the importance of the economy and human resources, listen to public complaints and accept the advice of industry and academia.

  The DPP should use the huge executive system and its resource distribution power to build wealth and create benefits for the nation and its people, while staying true to its early political aims.

  Peng Pai-hsien chairs the Taiwan Professors Association's (台灣教授協會) socio-economic group.

  Translated by Perry Svensson

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