Less than two months after the new administration took power, the stock market is in free fall, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval ratings are slipping and former Control Yuan president Wang Tso-yung (王作榮) and former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) are taking turns in demanding Cabinet reshuffles, with Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Vanessa Shih (史亞平) one of those in the firing line. The government is experiencing a credibility crisis that the Cabinet cannot resolve with a few humble excuses.
The government’s problem is that Ma said too much during his presidential campaign. His election slogan promising immediate improvements made public expectations soar, when in fact Ma was overestimating the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ability to govern and underestimating the global economic situation and the complexity of the domestic situation. The government still has to move into gear and the public no longer has confidence that Ma will deliver on his promises.
The government is trying every trick in the book to come up with a quick fix, but many of its economic measures require time, while others cancel each other out: Raising oil and electricity prices, launching a plan to increase domestic demand and promoting development will lead to inflation and higher commodity prices, while the central bank is raising interest rates in an attempt to decrease money supply and curb inflation.
While international oil prices keep rising, the government’s measures will not be able to restrict price increases and it is unlikely that commodity prices will fall and the stock index go up.
The government clearly does not have the patience to wait for its economic measures to have an effect and instead places its hopes for the economy on Chinese tourists. It is also planning to allow Taiwanese companies to set up 12-inch wafer plants in China, which will weaken the industry’s quality and also affect both national and global security.
The government’s problems clearly do not lie in isolated incidents. Rather, there is an inability to grasp overall social trends. At a time when a public consensus is missing and Ma has said the Suhua Freeway construction project will not go ahead until the environmental impact assessment has been passed, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said that sections of the freeway would be built.
When Cabinet policy is declared on the spur of the moment without going through a standardized administrative process, when policies are constantly changing and when public sentiment regarding the freeway construction is ignored, it is only natural that there will be public discontent.
The GIO director is only there to make the government look good, and Shih cannot change policy or decisions. It is not her fault that the Cabinet is mired in internal chaos, it is always a step behind in managing crises, that policy communication falters and that the government cannot grasp public sentiment. This is the responsibility of more senior officials in both the Cabinet and the Presidential Office.
The government’s most urgent task is to review the Cabinet’s performance. In addition to setting up standardized processes for decision making, the Cabinet should also be taught the meaning of the term “team work” and the ministries should discuss how to improve their understanding of public sentiment.
Eating at a breakfast shop the other day, I turned to an old man sitting at the table next to mine. “Hey, did you hear that the Legislative Yuan passed a bill to give everyone NT$10,000 [US$340]?” I said, pointing to a newspaper headline. The old man cursed, then said: “Yeah, the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] canceled the NT$100 billion subsidy for Taiwan Power Co and announced they would give everyone NT$10,000 instead. “Nice. Now they are saying that if electricity prices go up, we can just use that cash to pay for it,” he said. “I have no time for drivel like
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