The government’s efforts to deal with the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot has exposed President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) leadership deficiencies, analysts said.
The Ma administration has come under fire since the typhoon began lashing Taiwan on Aug. 7 with more than a year’s rainfall, triggering the most serious flooding and mudslides in 50 years.
Bowing to public anger, Ma on Saturday apologized for the slow pace of rescue efforts, but he blamed the weather and road conditions for hampering rescue efforts.
At issue are whether Ma should have begun evacuating people earlier, declared a state of emergency, accepted foreign assistance earlier and called a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) earlier.
Ma has rejected calls to declare a state of emergency, saying the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救法) clearly stipulates disaster relief efforts.
The government did not request international assistance until Thursday amid mounting public uproar. Ma called a national security meeting on Friday and activated the national security mechanism, but he declined to take charge of the rescue operation saying the onus lay on the executive branch.
Ma also drew the ire of many members of the public for appearing arrogant and aloof when meeting survivors early in the week and reportedly telling the British Independent Television Network (ITN) that the victims had failed to take the initiative to evacuate.
Chang Jung-feng (張榮豐), who served as NSC deputy secretary-general under former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), said the crux of the problem lay solely in Ma’s attitude.
“He has completely turned a national disaster into a political crisis,” Chang said. “The disaster is a turning point for Ma because the public finally sees clearly how incompetent he is.”
Ma should be held fully responsible for the shortcomings of the government’s response to the disaster, just as he should be held responsible for problems stemming from decisions made when he was Taipei mayor between 1998 and 2006 such as the Maokong Gondola, the Neihu MRT Line and center bus lanes, Chang said.
“Now as president, he is expanding the scope of his ineptitude from the municipal level to a national scale,” Chang said.
As the country’s most powerful person, Ma discarded the mandate given him by the people and tried to use his personal charm to provide disaster relief by telephoning Taipei City’s Fire Department and 11 local government chiefs to ask for help, Chang said.
Ma’s actions were just as inconsequential as Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) and Council of Labor Affairs Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) spending time distributing lunch boxes to flood victims instead of mapping out practical plans, Chang said.
As the commander-in-chief, Ma’s first priority should be ordering the military to build communication nodes and construct bridges to access stranded communities, he said.
“Acting without knowing what is happening in the disaster areas is like a blind person riding a blind horse,” he said. “What we see is Ma and Cabinet officials spending more time defending themselves than dealing with the problems.”
Even during his inspection trips, Ma did not bring the minister of national defense or chief of the general staff to give immediate instructions, Chang said.
The security council has also been ineffectual because it failed to advise Ma on such critical questions as whether to declare a state of emergency and appeal for international help, he said.
Ma eventually called a national security meeting a week after the disaster struck, but it was simply a symbolic gesture and Ma’s instructions were meaningless, he said.
As the situations in disaster-struck areas remains unclear, the Ma administration could not pinpoint problems, let alone address them, Chang said.
While Ma blamed the victims for refusing to evacuate and the local governments for failing to implement evacuation programs, the central government had the responsibility to protect the people and it had the right to evacuate them against their will, he said.
The onus of mapping out a massive evacuation plan and implementing it is on the central government, not local governments, Chang said.
While Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) insists the government has reacted quickly to the disaster, Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深), a historian who has studied the rescue efforts after the 921 Earthquake, said the answer was clear when people compare the response to disasters by Ma’s government and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
Lee wrote in his diary — which was later published — that the 921 Earthquake struck at 1:47am and at 2am he ordered the military to establish a disaster commanding center, Chen said. That center was set up by 8am, Lee arrived at the scene at 9:50am, addressed the nation that afternoon and called a national security meeting at 8pm, Chen said. Lee declared a state of emergency on Sept. 25, he said.
With power and telephone lines down, only the military could establish communication channels, Chen said.
“It all lies in the attitude of the leader,” Chen said. “If Ma had Taiwan on his mind rather than China, it would have been natural for him to declare a state of emergency, appeal for foreign aid and mobilize the military.”
While Ma insisted it was unnecessary to declare a national emergency, he did not seem to understand the people did not care whether a “decree” was declared, but whether the government considered the situation an “emergency,” Chen said.
Meanwhile, former deputy minister of national defense Lin Chong-Pin (林中斌) said Morakot might serve as a turning point for the Ma administration, citing the example of the initial public displeasure with the George W. Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.
Lin declined to comment on the administration’s relief efforts, saying others have said enough and that he did not want to add any more.
“I think everybody can see it,” he said.
He pointed out, however, that Morakot could teach people to be more prepared the next time around. While people were talking about the next typhoon, the public might want to think about the next earthquake and other natural disasters such as a volcanic eruption, tsunami or even solar storm, he said.
Lin urged the government to catch up with the US and China, which have taken steps to adjust their national security policies in accordance with global climate changes.
The NSC should design a standard operation procedure for future national disasters so the government can respond promptly when the next disaster strikes, Lin said.
The military should realize that one of their major missions is disaster relief, while the country must train more disaster rescue teams that could help Taiwan and other countries, he said.
The educational system must also begin educating youngsters about climatic and environmental changes, Lin said.
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