Less than a year into President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) four-year term, his administration has already produced some bleak figures for the nation. Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics figures state that the nation’s unemployment rate surged to a seven-year high of 5.31 percent in January.
Statistics from the Ministry of Economic Affairs show that the nation’s export orders in January saw a record decline of 41.67 percent. Ministry of Education tallies show that approximately 240,000 elementary and junior high school students cannot afford their lunch fees this semester.
Along with these depressing numbers, there has been an increase in news reports about children quitting school because their families can’t afford tuition, and individuals taking their own lives because of unbearable financial burdens resulting from long-term unemployment.
“The people’s pain is my pain and your suffering is my suffering,” Ma has repeatedly said.
By the looks of things, many people are indeed suffering, but how much of their suffering is Ma feeling?
Granted, the global economic climate is unfavorable and nearly all countries have felt the economic crunch, but we are struggling to see hard action that shows the government cares and is working to help reduce their suffering.
Instead, stringent qualifications were put in place making it difficult for low-income families to receive subsidies from the government, while last month there was a report that the Department of Health was mulling an increase in National Health Insurance (NHI) premiums — an idea that wasn’t shelved until there was significant public outcry.
During the presidential campaign last year, Ma said he would donate half of his salary if his campaign pledges were not realized. A puerile gimmick, indeed.
In an interview with the Mexican daily El Sol de Mexico last September, Ma said that his “6-3-3” economic policy — annual economic growth of 6 percent, annual per capita income of US$30,000 by 2016 and an unemployment rate of less than 3 percent — would not be realized in four years. But if voters elected him again, he said, those promises would be actualized in the last year of his second term.
If the recent dismal figures released by the government are any indication, the public can ill-afford to spend four years — let alone eight — waiting as Ma adjusts the window-dressing on his policies.
Rather than portraying China as the solution and engaging in word games over whether to call an economic pact with Beijing a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) or an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), the Ma administration would be better off focusing its resources on remedies that can provide timely help for the needy and for those itching to be productive before these sad statistics climb.
A few weeks ago in Kaohsiung, tech mogul turned political pundit Robert Tsao (曹興誠) joined Western Washington University professor Chen Shih-fen (陳時奮) for a public forum in support of Taiwan’s recall campaign. Kaohsiung, already the most Taiwanese independence-minded city in Taiwan, was not in need of a recall. So Chen took a different approach: He made the case that unification with China would be too expensive to work. The argument was unusual. Most of the time, we hear that Taiwan should remain free out of respect for democracy and self-determination, but cost? That is not part of the usual script, and
Behind the gloating, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) must be letting out a big sigh of relief. Its powerful party machine saved the day, but it took that much effort just to survive a challenge mounted by a humble group of active citizens, and in areas where the KMT is historically strong. On the other hand, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) must now realize how toxic a brand it has become to many voters. The campaigners’ amateurism is what made them feel valid and authentic, but when the DPP belatedly inserted itself into the campaign, it did more harm than good. The
For nearly eight decades, Taiwan has provided a home for, and shielded and nurtured, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). After losing the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the KMT fled to Taiwan, bringing with it hundreds of thousands of soldiers, along with people who would go on to become public servants and educators. The party settled and prospered in Taiwan, and it developed and governed the nation. Taiwan gave the party a second chance. It was Taiwanese who rebuilt order from the ruins of war, through their own sweat and tears. It was Taiwanese who joined forces with democratic activists
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) held a news conference to celebrate his party’s success in surviving Saturday’s mass recall vote, shortly after the final results were confirmed. While the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would have much preferred a different result, it was not a defeat for the DPP in the same sense that it was a victory for the KMT: Only KMT legislators were facing recalls. That alone should have given Chu cause to reflect, acknowledge any fault, or perhaps even consider apologizing to his party and the nation. However, based on his speech, Chu showed
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