Several talented Taiwanese have been quietly and diligently making the nation proud, in stark contrast to the nation’s politicians.
Among them are Kuo Chih-ling (郭植伶) and Chen Yu-cheng (陳鈺承), who respectively won the after-dinner cocktail and flairtending categories at the International Bartenders Association World Cocktail Championships in Sofia last week.
Then there is teenager Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), who earlier this year became the first-ever Taiwan-born performer to make it through a South Korean talent show to be chosen as a member of new girl group Twice, which debuted on Tuesday under the JYP Entertainment label — the firm that manages K-pop groups such as Wonder Girls and Miss A.
Members of two teams, ahq e-Sports Club and Flash Wolves, put up extraordinary performances at the League of Legends e-sports tournament in London over the weekend, an international online video game competition.
Although both teams’ world championships runs ended in the quarter-finals, their achievements are still laudable, earning top-eight finishes.
Through their endeavors, these people have collectively provided an excellent opportunity for the nation to raise its visibility on the global stage.
Any one of these achievements, which contributed toward Taiwanese pride, ought to be enough to put many of the nation’s politicians, particularly officials within President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, to shame, as the politicians appear to only care about engaging in meaningless wrangling and selfish politicking.
Taiwan, under the governance of the incompetent Ma administration for the past seven years, is constantly losing its competitive edge, outperformed by neighbors such as China and South Korea.
Various economic indices show negativity and point to a bleak outlook. For example, many market analysts say that it will be difficult to maintain GDP growth of 1 percent.
Aside from weakening exports, statistics from the Ministry of Labor showed the number of furloughed workers last month reached the highest level since February last year.
Information from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed that the unemployment rate climbed from 3.82 percent in July to 3.9 percent in August.
This is alongside soaring housing prices, a deteriorating labor market and weakening household incomes, which seem to be an unending nightmare since Ma took office in May 2008.
Civil servants are on the taxpayers’ payroll and their job description calls for them to serve the public, but, as economic indicators show, they have been doing a lousy job enhancing and sharpening the nation’s competitive edge.
By contrast, Kuo, Chen and the professional gamers, as well as others like them, might not be as boisterous as Ma, Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) and their ilk — who seem to want to hog the limelight — but the non-politicians know a thing or two about perseverance, passion, and striving for excellence and honor with diligence and devotion.
Politicians seem to be at the opposite end of the spectrum.
In view of the nation’s difficult international situation, what it needs is the use of its own initiative and ingenuity to maintain a presence and stay relevant.
With their perseverance and hard work, the young achievers have shown the world positivity, helping Taiwan to shine on global stages.
Hopefully, the nation’s so-called leaders can learn a thing or two from them by spending less time talking, and more time acting and delivering on their promises.
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