Friday was the first Double Ten national day celebration since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office. In his national day address, Ma admitted that his Cabinet’s performance over the past four-and-a-half months has not entirely lived up to public expectations, but he offered no apologies for its failings. He did not clearly explain the challenges facing the nation, nor did he propose any tangible solutions.
“We feel deeply the pain of our people caused by the economic downturn,” he said, while attributing the slowdown entirely to the notion that Taiwan could not avoid the effects of the US financial crisis.
His speech was just one more in a string of calls for public confidence. As Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said, it was no more than a collection of empty phrases.
If there is one thing that Taiwan has not been short of recently, it is confidence calls full of empty verbiage. The Cabinet’s performance during its few months in power has been entirely devoid of merit. Consequently, the whole nation is now in peril, the public is suffering and a sense of foreboding prevails.
Ma promised to make the economy the No. 1 priority in his government’s program but, as he admitted in his speech, the economy is sluggish, share prices are falling, prospects are grim, business is difficult and life is hard. Despite the dismal state of the economy, neither Ma nor his appointed financial decision makers are willing to face reality. Instead, all they can offer is one pep talk after another. Unable to change things for the better or set the public’s mind at rest, they are losing credibility fast.
By repeatedly making promises it can’t live up to, Ma’s government has thrown its credibility to the four winds. Take Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄), for example. With the stock market trending downward since Ma took office, Chiu has repeatedly called for public confidence. His basic contention each time has been that the nation’s economic fundamentals remain sound and its long-term prospects are good. Local stocks’ price/earnings ratios are fair, he says, while urging the public to take heart that the government will fulfill its promise of economic growth.
Chiu has said that foreign investors have confidence in Taiwan’s stock market — but that was before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection and pushed the global financial crisis to a new level. Chiu’s calls for confidence have not turned the situation around. Sometimes he has made more than one such call a day, while on other occasions he was compelled to dodge questions from reporters. In the meantime, the TAIEX kept tumbling even faster than those of its neighbors.
The reason why the government’s pep talks have had no effect is quite simple. To install confidence, you need to let the public know what is really going on. Whatever you say to the public needs to be based on reality. If you dodge the issues and depart from reality, the public won’t accept it.
Take the economy, for example. The IMF recently reported that the global economy is entering a period of much lower growth rates. Forecast worldwide growth for next year has been revised down from 3.9 percent to just 3 percent. The government of Singapore has recognized that the city-state is already in recession. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has voiced his concern over the country’s economic outlook on more than one occasion.
Perhaps it is for the sake of face that the Taiwanese government insists that its growth target of 5 percent for next year can still be met. When government officials refuse to face reality and don’t dare tell the truth, their calls for confidence are bound to fall on deaf ears.
Taiwan is a democracy and the public cannot be lead around by the nose anymore. Instead of coming up with sound policies, the government has taken advantage of the economic downturn to push its line of complete opening up to China, which would only make the domestic economy even more reliant on cross-strait trade.
How can the public have confidence in a Cabinet that comes up with one wrong policy after the other? Ma’s team has overestimated its ability and misjudged the situation. Confronted with falling growth since the second quarter, rising prices, stagnant wages and a falling stock index, the government has not come up with any effective remedial policies. On the contrary, each ministry has its own idea and their uncoordinated policies are doomed to fail.
The Cabinet announced “eight big projects” to inject life into the economy, but still the public has no faith in its ability to turn the economy around. Ma and his government have failed to honestly explain to the public what is going on in the unfolding financial crisis, where it is heading or what policies they can come up with to deal with the situation.
Before taking office, Ma’s team was full of self-confidence, claiming that “everything will be fine just as soon as Ma Ying-jeou gets in.” Then they changed the promise to “everything will be fine ... soon.” Now, with the government facing serious challenges at home and abroad, it looks more like “everything has gone wrong since Ma got in.”
Ma’s national day address was just another empty call for confidence, touting a list of old and failed policies in an attempt to anesthetize and hoodwink the public.
Before the presidential election, people bought shares on the promise that the TAIEX would top 20,000 points with Ma in power, only to see their share prices plunge. Workers in the tourism industry believed the promise that direct flights between Taiwan and China would bring unlimited business opportunities, but they have been disappointed. Wage earners have watched their real incomes fall. Consumers can’t even eat or drink without worrying about the milk powder scandal.
With Ma’s Double Ten day speech, Taiwanese have heard one pep talk too many. We can’t allow this government to pull the wool over our eyes any longer.
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