This year, Global Vision Monthly released a poll ranking the approval rates of Taiwan’s 22 city mayors and county commissioners. Among the six special municipality mayors, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) placed right after Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕).
However, Hou’s approval rate dropped by almost 12 percent compared with the previous year’s poll.
The survey presents two crucial messages: On the one hand, residents of New Taipei City regard Hou’s performance as mayor quite generously. On the other hand, the poll indicates their deep discontent with Hou for deciding to shirk his duty as mayor in favor of running for the presidency.
Hou’s background as a police officer gives the impression that he is a simple, honest and taciturn person. Unlike former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who seems to be quick-witted and silver-tongued, Hou is more reserved and even clumsy when speaking to the public. This is not necessarily bad for being a mayor. After all, city mayors and county commissioners are only responsible for looking after a locality’s environmental issues while improving security and transportation. Their job is to ensure people can live and work in peace, and this is precisely what Hou has been talking about: “Just get the job done.”
However, the horrendous kindergarten drugging scandal in New Taipei City has caused a public uproar. The alledged incident serves as a counterexample to Hou’s motto. Ensuring children’s safety should be basic for a mayor.
However, Hou has failed in getting the job done. At the same time, imitating the policy of others, Hou has proposed that children who are under the age of six are to be looked after by the government. After the kindergarten scandal, the public’s doubt of whether Hou is up to the job is to be expected.
If Hou wants to be president, what matters more than merely “getting the job done” is how the job is done, such as formulating policy based on strategic planning. In the case of Taiwan, the central government should be capable of planning its foreign policy and cross-strait relations in accordance with the nation’s interests.
This is Hou’s weak point. For a mayor, doing the right thing is enough, but as a nation’s leader, it a must, and the latter is much more crucial than the former. If Hou wants to be the president, he should let the public know how he will get the job done and what exactly the job is.
A renowned management concept called the Peter Principle would help to understand Hou’s case better. The principle observes that a corporation promotes individuals until they reach a level at which they are not competent.
In this sense, employees are to be evaluated primarily based on their current or previous job performance, rather than on their ability and potential to handle a higher-level job profile. Consequently, it would be difficult for competent individuals to achieve the position they deserve, and this would become a tragedy for the employees and the corporation.
As the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, will Hou become an example of the Peter Principle? Let us wait and see.
Chen Wen-ching works in environmental services.
Translated by Emma Liu
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