The minister behind a recent report stating that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has achieved 96.9 percent of its stated policies has come under fire from critics across the political spectrum.
Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) Minister Sung Yu-hsieh (宋餘俠), who delivered the report at the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee on Wednesday was accused of blatant pandering to the administration.
According to Sung’s report, since Ma assumed the presidency from May 2008 up to May 20 last year, his administration has fully or partially achieved 96.9 percent of all election commitments, or 401 policies of the 414 pledges it made.
However, legislators across party lines said the report was hugely ironic given the “ineptitude” of the administration.
“I do not believe it [the report,]” KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑雷) said, adding that Ma had said it was how the public felt about the policies that counted.
KMT Legislator Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正) said the statistics revealed a clear gap between the government’s and the public’s perception of government performance.
Lin added that the commission, which is on the verge of being phased out, should reflect on what it can do to improve government instead of just flattering its masters.
“If the commission thinks its duty is to flatter its superiors and turn a blind eye to public complaints, people will think their hard-earned taxes are going toward creating boot-lickers,” Lin said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) said that many of Ma’s campaign promises have already been broken, including his “6-3-3” pledge and the all-voluntary military service, which is certain now to be delayed by another two years.
“The Ma administration’s policies have long lacked public support, and its policies — the most notable being the ‘6-3-3’ — have become the butt of jokes,” she added.
The “6-3-3” economic policy refers to the goal of achieving annual GDP of 6 percent, annual per capita income of US$30,000, and an unemployment rate of less than 3 percent.
Sung said there were a total of 209 policies of 414 pledges — or 50.5 percent — fully implemented; and 192 policies, or 46.4 percent, that are in the process of implementation with some results.
The reason the “6-3-3” policy is included as an “achieved” policy, is that there had been one year in which the economic growth rate had exceeded 6 percent, Sung said.
He added that it was placed under the policies that are being implemented and have some results.
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