How Has a “Gov’t that Claims to Have Accomplished a Lot of Things" Lost Popular Support?

  How Has a “Gov’t that Claims to Have Accomplished a Lot of Things" Lost Popular Support?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 2, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

With less than two months left before the nine-in-one local the elections on November 24, the DPP, however, looked feeble in election campaigns. President Tsai, in a number a campaign rallies, told of her helplessness and hard work as President, asking the crowds in the rallies to verify: "Don’t you feel that I have accomplished many things?" For a President who claims to have accomplished many things, the poll ratings, however, are more and more so in the doldrums; besides complaining to the supporters who mobilized to attend the rallies, hoping to get some warmth, Tsai Ing-wen seemingly can only self-hypnotize, believing that the people will change their minds, and the fate of losing the elections could be turned around.

The DPP’s ramming and bullying in governance is a rarity in history. For the sake of “one fixed holiday, one flexible day-off,” the DPP flip-flopped in revising of the Labor Standards Act, causing unprecedented tensions in labor-management relations, while grassroots workers, industry operators and consumers all ended up as victims. The pension and annuities reforms which the Tsai government itself believes to be its greatest accomplishment, churned up generational confrontation, while clubbing the dignity of the military, civil servants, and public school teachers; however, while the hair is half washed with shampoo, it does not dare to touch the problem of the labor annuity fund bankruptcy. In addition, pushing with all efforts for tax cuts for the elections until the Finance Ministry was startled to find that the proposed cuts were something that the national coffers could not afford, it hastened to apply the brakes to the income tax cuts. The most outrageous is the “buy-long, sell-short” energy policy, pushing all the way a nuclear-free policy, but not presenting a pragmatic, new substitute energy program. On the one hand, it increases fossil-fuel power generation, but bringing more serious air pollution, and on the other hand, throwing heavy financial resources to push for green energy, while however, there is no way to make up for the power shortage, instead bringing an eco-environmental crisis.

The DPP’s anniversary last week was strangely low-keyed, reflecting somewhat the diffidence of the party followers in their governance record. Some figures, including former Vice President Annette Lu, have openly lambasted President Tsai’s improper personnel appointments, saying too many political appointees, in total disregard for professionalism, rendered the country into a state of chaos. Lu also warned that if this haughtiness and arrogance continued, it would only lead to "self-destruction." Such phenomena, in fact, are being witnessed by the public: the Presidential Palace and the Cabinet wantonly employ cronies, with the newly-powerful in vogue, political appointees lacking experiences occupying, however, high places, how could it make policy decisions both forward-looking and eye-catching? How could such a government be qualified to talk about its governance record with the people, court sympathy, and ask for votes?

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