Kaohsiung has been in the spotlight ever since the sudden rise of previously low-profile new Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜). Now that Han has taken up his post, the city is entering a new phase. However, as someone who has lived in Kaohsiung for more than 40 years, I have some advice for Han that is perhaps closer to the grassroots view.
After Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County were merged and elevated to a special municipality in 2010, the city was expected to become the driving force for development in southern Taiwan, while at the same time developing a positive cooperative and competitive relationship with Taipei that would help push Taiwan forward.
However, this is not how things turned out and Kaohsiung’s competitiveness has seen a continued decline.
The problem these days is not that the government is focusing on northern Taiwan over the south, but rather that the city has fallen behind the other five special municipalities. This is probably the biggest problem in the eyes of Kaohsiung residents.
The significant boost to Kaohsiung’s visibility these days clearly has to do with Han’s popularity. However, such a temporary boost driven by a single person’s charisma could pose a danger to the city.
Kaohsiung is facing quite a few problems. Here is a list of for Han’s references from a local perspective.
First, public order problems will not go away. It seems that Kaohsiung residents have always been concerned about public order. There might not be any major criminal cases that stand out, but there has been a never-ending string of minor incidents, such as teenagers street racing and theft.
Such issues might seem trivial to the Kaohsiung City Government, but how can residents have any faith in the municipality if even trivial matters are left to accumulate?
Second, the level of culture and the arts in the city have stagnated. Kaohsiung used to be mocked for being a “cultural desert.” The people of Kaohsiung disagreed with this view and it built the Dadong Arts Center and Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts to raise the city’s cachet.
However, while free cultural events attract thousands of people, attendance at paid cultural events and performances has fallen short of expectations, resulting in some prestigious arts and cultural activities never making it to Kaohsiung. In that case, how could the city’s cultural level be raised?
Third, residents have grown used to low wages. There is no shortage of job opportunities in Kaohsiung and it is not very difficult for young people to find employment, but there are few major corporations in the city, which means that high-salary jobs and careers with development or advancement opportunities are scarce.
As a consequence, it is common to see young people go from low-paying job to low-paying job in the service sector. They might be able to make a living now, but are sure to encounter problems in the long term.
Fourth, Kaohsiung lacks specialized technical talent. Many local universities lack specialized departments. To recruit more students, many schools have established a large number of departments with low enrollment thresholds, which has led to a shortage of specialists.
Considering this situation, how will Kaohsiung ever attract investment for its high-tech industry?
These concerns are based on my personal observations rather than any theoretical foundation, but even issues of minor concern for residents should be treated as a major issue by the local government.
Hopefully, with the increase in national, and perhaps even global, attention for Kaohsiung, Han could turn his focus to the city’s residents and their smaller concerns. That is what a good leader should do.
Otherwise, every time the public is blinded by the glory of “the nation’s best mayor,” it might be missing that behind that glory is a city of people without any hope for the future.
Li Kuan-long is a lecturer at Shih Chien University’s Kaohsiung campus.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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