President William Lai’s (賴清德) trust rating has risen to 58.9 percent, his approval rating has reached 54.4 percent and more than half of the people surveyed, 50.3 percent, have a favorable impression of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), a My-Formosa.com poll released last month showed.
While all three categories rose for Lai and the DPP, approval ratings for Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) fell to just 21.9 percent, while the party’s disapproval rating rose to a record high of 65.3 percent.
The reason for the change in the parties’ ratings is simple. When it comes to politics, people do not live in a fantasy world.
They are not so hypercritical as to expect that a political party can never have members that break the law, they just expect that those people would honestly face the public about their mistakes.
Politics without honesty has no substance. Without sincerity, nothing is left. Parties that refuse to wholeheartedly admit fault would only continue to commit crimes. They would never take the supervision, expectations or hopes of the public seriously.
Since Lai assumed office, DPP members have been involved in a string of political incidents. Former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) was taken into custody on corruption charges involving a land development project, former minister of transportation and communications Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) resigned from his post following rumors of an extramarital affair and, most recently, DPP Legislator Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) posted NT$1 million (US$31,309) bail after being investigated for suspected involvement in embezzlement.
Political opponents have interpreted the incidents as party infighting, saying that some of those involved were close to Lai.
Even in such an unfavorable environment, Lai’s trust rating and the DPP’s approval rating have risen. The main reason is that Lai has not tried to hide his party’s faults, hinder their response efforts or meddle in their cases. He has let go and allowed the investigations to proceed without interference. If fault is found, the accused would face legal action. If none is found, then they should be exonerated.
Values and ideas are the flesh and blood of a political party, as well as assets for survival. Politicians must courageously face issues as they arise rather than avoiding them or attempting to shirk responsibility.
As for Ko, his party continues to provide murky answers regarding an election finance scandal. The issue is getting increasingly clouded as time goes on, and their attempted cover-up has only made matters worse. The public has completely lost their trust in Ko.
The party which has persistently pushed for generational and residential justice has been reduced to a political laughing stock. Ko consistently refuses to sincerely confront his mistakes, preferring to spin more lies to conceal his previous ones.
People expect politicians to have the courage to honestly confront issues, not avoid accountability and provide barely satisfactory responses.
Chen Chi-nung is a political commentator.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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