Saturday’s by-elections in Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung saw the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) win in both special municipalities. Opinions on the results vary, but they can be summarized by saying that the governing party has too high an opinion of itself and its policies are out of touch with public opinion.
Ever since the Lunar New Year, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), government departments and media outlets with close links to the party have raved on about a “perceptible” economic recovery as opposed to a “jobless” recovery.
Certain media outlets have been playing up news about how much money Chinese tourists are spending in Taiwan and how much money Taiwanese businesses are spending on their annual banquets to paint a pretty picture of the economic situation.
However, most people’s salaries have been stagnant for years, while commodity prices have continued to rise. As a result people have less money to spend and they are dissatisfied.
If you ask your friends and relatives about this, most of them will probably tell you they are dissatisfied with what’s going on. The Ministry of the Interior recently announced that while Taiwan’s economic growth exceeded 10 percent last year, for the first time, more than 110,000 households — 273,000 people — are living below the poverty line. This clearly shows how the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing.
Now, let’s look at the recent hike in commodity prices. While this was mostly caused by an international imbalance in the supply and demand for raw materials, it was also aggravated by individuals.
While the government has declared that it would come down hard and heavily punish anyone involved in hoarding, and based on past experience the government was all hot air when it came to dealing with middlemen making exorbitant profits from selling agricultural products.
The price of fertilizer has also increased, adding to the burden of farmers and causing some to wonder whether certain businesses are involved in hoarding.
The government vowed to closely investigate the matter and hand out strict punishment, but all it did in the end was arrest a few minor players so it could say it had fulfilled its duties. These past incidents have caused the public to doubt the government’s ability and accountability.
In fact, the economic and trade achievements that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration are so proud of are a direct result of China’s attempts to pander to Taiwan. What’s more, the majority of those who have benefited are large corporations and businesses.
This has had the effect of increasing the relative deprivation that people feel and this is certain to cost the current administration in future.
The good thing about democracies is that people can change their political leaders without having to resort to violence. The results of the latest by-elections are definitely a warning for the KMT and we will have to see what reforms and actions it adopts from here on to see if it has a chance to hang on to power.
As for the DPP, the results were definitely a form of encouragement, but if the party gets caught up in a power struggle and infighting, things will not be good for it either, as we have seen in the past. It will indeed be interesting to see the result of the battle between the two sides.
Lee Wu-chung is a professor of agricultural economics at National Taiwan University.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
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