Officials Jumping Ship, Executive Dictatorship, Sad National Day

 Officials Jumping Ship, Executive Dictatorship, Sad National Day

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 10, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

Today marks the National Day of the Republic of China 2018. Despite the fact that the powers that be went through the motions of holding celebratory activities, the shingle of the Republic of China has become fuzzy. What is more serious is that the democratic and economic progression of this country has plunged into retrogression. In a few short days, Huang Huang-hsiung, chairman of the Transformational Justice Commission, and Chan Shun-kuei, deputy minister of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have both resigned in succession. Cabinet ministers, on the other hand, oblivious to public opinion, railroaded passage of the environmental impact assessment for the Guantang LNG terminal. CPC Taiwan, ignoring the hikes in oil prices, announced that gasoline prices would be frozen till the end of the year; labor pension and labor insurance funds, on the other hand, received orders to enter the market to boost the TAIEX. All of these measures aim to whitewash the incompetence of the Tsai government's administration, also exposing the perils facing the nation's prospects.

Just two days before National Day, the EPA, relying on the numerical superiority of government-appointed members of the Environmental Protection Assessment Conference, railroaded the Guantang terminal case, and was dubbed "the darkest day in history of environmental protection." On this day, EPA deputy minister, who came from the ranks of the social movement, released his resignation statement on his own, and eight members of the Environmental Protection Assessment Conference who are scholars or experts boycotted the meeting of the conference in protest. In spite of this, it could not stop the railroading instructions of the Executive Branch from top on down. The Tsai government has fully implemented the determination of "complete control of government, complete dictatorship"; as to the long-established environmental assessment system, it has been trampled under its feet.

In a short three days, Huang Huang-hsiung and Chan Shun-kuei resigned in succession; it could not have been accidental. Huang Huang-hsiung, prideful of his lifelong reputation, originally thought that he could make contributions toward transformational justice and social reconciliation. Unexpectedly, the personnel deployment and institutional duties of President Tsai, however, marched in opposite directions; Huang Huang-hsiung was relegated to a “figurehead” for transformational justice. Even after Chang Tien-chin’s "Dongchang incident” (a Ming Dynasty secret police organization equivalent to the modern-day Gestapo), broke out, the Presidential Office and the Cabinet did not undertake an effective review to stave the storm, only thinking of how to continue on the path of persecution and struggle for their own self-interests. How could this kind of attitude have failed to leave Huang Huang-hsiung disheartened?

The improper governance of a government even compelled its own cohorts’ benign advice such that they must "jump ship" and depart in order to save themselves the indignities in their twilight years. To this kind of government, what else can we say? It is miserable that not only is the Tsai government incompetent, Taiwan’s prospects are also worrisome. Following our relentless appeals of "for the next generation," in the end, what assets could we bequeath it? Whither is the government leading the country? With officials jumping ship, a dictatorial and disabled administration, National Day has nothing to celebrate, only sadness and sorrow.

Attachment : none