President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has come down with seven “illnesses”: incompetence, inefficiency, chaotic policymaking, apathy and numbness, money-wasting addiction, an inability to fulfill campaign promises, and a tendency to build trouble-ridden public infrastructure, according to a pamphlet recently published by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The pamphlet, titled A Diagnosis of the Ma Administration’s Illnesses (馬政府有病臨床診斷書), cites government statistics and documents to identify seven problems plaguing the Ma administration during its oft-criticized rule over the past five years.
While the annual budgets under Ma’s government have been far larger than yearly budgets during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) term, the nation has seen a decline in domestic investment, a lack of meaningful infrastructure projects, a higher unemployment rate and a drop in real incomes since Ma took office in 2008, it says.
“The Ma administration’s annual expenditures average NT$1.92 trillion [US$64.8 billion], about NT$272.9 billion more than the NT$1.65 trillion spent annually by Chen’s government,” it says.
“However, under Ma’s reign, the nation’s real wages have deteriorated to the level of 14 years ago, the average GDP growth rate has dropped below 3 percent, the unemployment rate has shot up to more than 4 percent and domestic fixed investment has been halved to NT$0.52 trillion, from NT$1.05 trillion during Chen’s term,” it says.
The pamphlet also accuses the Ma administration of being apathetic toward its problematic policymaking and government officials’ “careless mistakes,” citing the collapse of the judicial system, the recent spate of food scares, the severance of diplomatic ties between Taiwan and the Republic of the Gambia and the administration’s 12 downward revisions of GDP growth forecasts since last year.
“In spite of everything, no one has apologized or stepped down to take political responsibility over these matters,” the pamphlet says.
The Ma administration has sought to whitewash its incompetence by holding large scale money-consuming festive events, signifying its addiction to wasting taxpayer money, the pamphlet says.
The economic benefits of such events are usually not proportional to the money spent on them, the brochure said, and the public facilities constructed for them often ended up becoming “mosquito-breeding sites.”
The brochure cites as an example the “Ma Ying-Jeou Hall” (馬英九奮鬥館) constructed by the Miaoli County Government after Ma took office, which cost NT$30 million to build and NT$170 million to expropriate lands and repair nearby roads.
“The [Miaoli] government said at the time that the hall could help generate an annual tourism revenue of NT$200 million for the county, but it has been closed to the public for some time for ‘interior renovations,’” the pamphlet says.
The brochure also called the Taipei International Flora Expo in 2010 the biggest “money pit” in history, as it cost the government approximately NT$13.6 billion, a sum equivalent to the nation’s total annual budget for flood control projects.
More alarming is the inferior quality of public infrastructure projects constructed by the Ma administration, the pamphlet said, specifying a 30m crack found on the 40km Wugu-Yangmei Overpass in August, just four months after it was opened.
The Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau attributed the crack to contractors using poor-quality asphalt.
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
Restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to be included in the Michelin Guide’s review for the first time this year, alongside existing entries from Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, the France-based culinary publication said yesterday. This year’s edition of the Michelin Guide Taiwan is to be unveiled on Aug. 19 in Taipei. In addition to the coveted star ratings, Michelin Taiwan would announce its “Bib Gourmand” selections — a distinction awarded to establishments offering high-quality food at moderate prices — on Aug. 12. This year’s Bib Gourmand list would also feature restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu
A firefighter yesterday died after falling into New Taipei City's Xindian River when a rescue dinghy capsized during a search mission for a man who was later found dead. The New Taipei City Fire Department said that it received a report at 4:12pm that a 50-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), had fallen into the river. A 32-year-old firefighter, surnamed Wu (吳), was among the rescuers deployed to look for Chen, the fire department said, adding that he and five other rescue personnel were in the dinghy when it capsized. Wu had no vital signs after being pulled from the water to the
Academics have expressed mixed views on President William Lai’s (賴清德) nomination of High Prosecutors’ Office Chief Prosecutor Tsai Chiu-ming (蔡秋明) as a Constitutional Court justice and the head of the nation’s top judicial body. While prosecutors have served as justices at the Constitutional Court over the years, including Judy Ju (朱富美), an incumbent, the appointment of a prosecutor as president of the Judicial Yuan, which presides over the Constitutional Court, would be unprecedented. Retired law professor Lin Teng-yao (林騰鷂) said that Tsai’s nomination was an “abuse” of power by Lai, and called on the legislature, in which the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
RSS