After surviving the opposition's attempt to oust him on Tuesday in the country's first-ever presidential recall vote, this is not the time for President Chen Shui-bian (
With less than two years left in office, Chen needs to get down to business and work to regain the people's confidence in the integrity of his Democratic Progressive Party administration and its ability to govern.
Prior to Tuesday's vote, Chen said that he would seek to push cross-party consultations and cross-strait talks. After the vote, he once again apologized for the political and social upheaval -- much as he did in his televised address to the nation on June 20.
While all his pledges and vows sound nice, less talk and more action is what the country needs to recover from the past few weeks of political turmoil triggered by allegations of corruption against Chen's close associates and family members. Repeated apologies can too easily be interpreted by the public as a sign of incompetence.
After all, what Taiwan needs is not an apologetic president but one who is worthy of the public's respect, who gets work done and delivers on his promises.
People are forgetful, but not that forgetful. Many still remember and hold Chen to the pledges he made late last month -- to engage in introspection, no longer exercise any power beyond what is expressly defined by the Constitution for the role of the president and to reorganize the power structure of his administration in a bid to improve the image of his office.
Just because the crisis caused by the recall vote now appears to be over, this does not mean that Chen can forget what he has promised.
The president should start transforming his pledges into concrete action and re-equipping himself with the kind of determination he so often displayed when he was Taipei mayor.
Sure, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party have yet to do their jobs -- in terms of getting their legislators to review and pass the NT$3.7 trillion (US$113.3 billion) budget for state-owned enterprises, NT$100.7 billion for major infrastructure projects and NT$44.9 billion for flood-prevention efforts, including the dredging of Shihmen Reservoir.
But by the same token, there are tasks at hand for Chen as well. For starters, Chen should send new Control Yuan nominees to the legislature and appoint a new state public prosecutor-general.
True leadership shines through difficult times. Chen has the responsibility to live up to the public's expectations and focus on pushing ahead with effective policies that best serve the public and Taiwan's national interests.
He should remember that the public has entrusted him with a precious honor -- to go down in history as the head of the first pro-localization regime in Taiwan. The rest of his legacy is something that he has to work on now.
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