Today marks the second anniversary of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration as president. At a time when his plummeting approval ratings have improved ever so slightly, Ma yesterday reiterated his recent pledge to “create the next golden decade” for Taiwan while addressing a roomful of reporters from home and abroad at the Presidential Office.
In this address, Ma said that the well-being of the Taiwanese people always comes before considerations of his own re-election.
Ironic then, that Ma’s so-called “next golden decade” has been roundly criticized as overtly political. It can only be realized if he performs well during the remaining two years of his term, then secures a second four-year term and passes the torch to a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) political heir — two, plus four and four — which turns out to be no less than another campaign pledge.
No seasoned campaign managers would deny that it’s a brilliant and catchy campaign slogan (in Chinese at least) that can be easily understood by the public. Unfortunately, Ma really should have been more focused on running the country, rather than engaging in non-stop campaigning, at least until the end of this year.
In other words, the next two years will be critical for him to make good on his “golden” promise.
However, if we are to sign up to Ma’s “2-4-4 plan,” then surely it is not unreasonable to first expect him to honor his “6-3-3 plan” — a pledge he gave as a presidential candidate — to boost annual economic growth to 6 percent, keep unemployment below 3 percent and boost GDP per capita to US$30,000 (the latest government statistics show that GDP may recover to 4.72 percent this year following negative growth of 1.87 percent last year. Per capita GDP was US$16,997 as of the end of last year and the unemployment rate was 5.67 percent as of March). Little wonder, then, that Ma did not touch upon any of these goals during yesterday’s media briefing.
In the event that the president chooses the occasion of the second anniversary of his inauguration to forget these undertakings, it is our duty to remind him. If these three expectations, none of which has been realized, are not met before Ma completes his first term, the voting public should seriously reconsider whether he deserves another four-year presidential term.
This would also hold our politicians to at least a minimum standard of behavior. A system in which campaign pledges can be made and discarded at a later date is a system that dishonors Taiwan’s democracy.
The International Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) latest world competitiveness report, which boosted Taiwan’s ranking this year to eighth from last year’s 23rd, provided a much-needed shot in the arm for the Ma administration (although it is another question entirely why Taiwan’s competitiveness increased more than at any time since 1994 when annual growth has yet to recover to the level of 2007).
It is beholden upon the Taiwanese government to live up to, maintain and build on this competitiveness in the years to come.
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