Liberation from the Conundrum of the "Father and Son Riding a Donkey"

Liberation from the Conundrum of the "Father and Son Riding a Donkey"
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
July 15, 2008

The Ma administration has been in office 55 days. Less than 10 days after taking office, DPP legislators began shouting "Step down, step down!" Today, even Pan Blue elders are openly urging a "cabinet reshuffle." So what's wrong with this picture? What's wrong with this solid phalanx of opinion?

Today's political scene is an illustration of the old Chinese parable about "The Father and Son Riding the Donkey." No matter who does or doesn't ride the donkey on the way to the market, somebody is going to find reason to criticize them. If the ruling administration and its critics cannot distinguish between core issues and peripheral issues, between "what" issues and "how" issues, between long term issues and short term issues, it will find it difficult to escape the dilemma of the Father and Son Riding the Donkey to the market.

Actually President Ma has not changed his core positions since the election. He has by and large honored his campaign promises. For example: 1. The public on Taiwan has finally liberated itself from divisive struggles over national and ethnic identity. It need no longer endure endless arguments about who "loves Taiwan" and who is "betraying Taiwan," or about the "Republic of China" vs. "Taiwan." 2. Although the performance of the Ma administration has plenty of room for improvement, at least we need no longer endure such buffoons as Tu Cheng-sheng, Hsieh Chi-wei, and Chuang Kuo-rong. Comparatively speaking, the government's image is vastly improved. 3. Taipei and Beijing now have an opportunity for cross-strait reconciliation. Taiwan is finally able to enjoy more relaxed cross-strait relations, open up, and attempt to rebuild its regional political and economic role. In other words, at the very least, the Ma administration is doing three things. It is healing the nation's wounds, reestablishing clean government, and improving cross-strait relations. Therefore it should be given a positive evaluation. After all, it is precisely these three areas that have bedeviled Taiwan politically and economically for the past 10 years.

So far the Ma administration has encountered four kinds of problems. 1. Blue vs. Green Problems. The appointment of Lai Hsing-yuan, the nomination of Shen Fu-hsiung and Chang Chun-yen touched off a storm of controversy. Actually, these appointments were motivated by a relatively lofty political vision. But President Ma failed to handle and communicate the matter properly. The KMT legislative caucus and the KMT Central Committee felt slighted and resentful. Consequently what should have been a happy story degenerated into a farce. But at the conceptual level, the general public appreciates the good intentions behind these appointments. Their dissatisfaction is with the KMT, which degenerated into petty bickering.

2. Communication Problems. Shen Fu-hsiung's failure to be confirmed is the clearest example of such a failure in communication. Examples of this kind are too numerous to list. For example, the controversy over the Su Hua Highway vs. the Su Hua Highway Alternative Plan. The Executive Yuan managed to turn an escape hatch into a pitfall. Other cases include Chen Wu-shoung's unfortunate use of the qualifier, "merely," Chen Chao-min's untimely reference to the 319 Shooting Incident, and Liu Chao-hsuan's lament that "giving up one's green card was a sacrifice." Sound bites such as these bit the Ma administration on its tender parts.

3. Administrative Problems. Administrative problems are manifold. For example, the previously mentioned escape hatch turned pitfall. The Ma administration seems to have dug a disproportionate number of such pitfalls for itself. The Su-Hua Highway vs. the Su Hua Highway Alternate Plan pitfall was self-made. The Green Card incident was another instance of digging its own pit, then jumping in. So were the controversies of the hoarding of gasoline and fertilizer. The July 4 declaration that direct charter flights were not a gift from Hu Jintao was also a self-made pitfall. A pitfall currently being dug is the "diplomatic truce." Who knows when the Ma administration is going to fall in?

4. Policymaking Problems. Faced with an economic crisis the world has not seen for decades, the policies one makes are of paramount importance. Take for example fuel price strategy, tax structure, industrial competitiveness, problems with an M-Shaped Society and changes to cross-strait political and economic relations. Whether such policies are correct is a matter of opinion. These policymaking problems did not receive as much media coverage as the aforementioned Shen Fu-hsiung nomination, six hour long gas lines, and the Su Hua Highway Alternate Plan. The Democratic Progressive Party's criticisms never rose above the level of opposition party carping. As a result, worrisome blind spots regarding the ruling administration's policymaking process remain.

To sum up, in order to escape the "damned if you do and damned if you don't" conundrum beleaguering the Father and Son Riding a Donkey to the market, the Ma administration must not treat peripheral values as core values. For example, Chen Wu-shoung was guilty of nothing more than a slip of the tongue. The ruling administration need not treat his remarks as if they were meant maliciously. After all, he did not say that "The Pacific Ocean has no lid on it." The ruling administration need not treat "how" issues as if they were "what" issues. For example, the handling of Diane Lee's nationality. For the ruling administration this was merely a "how" issue that it unwittingly turned into a "what" issue. If both critics and the ruling administration can sharpen the distinctions between core issues, "what" issues, and long term issues on the one hand, versus peripheral issues, "how" issues, and short term issues on the other, then the Father and Son Riding a Donkey conundrum may soon be resolved.

To resolve these issues, the ruling administration must decide who will stand on the "Front Line" and who will stand on the "Second Line." It must decide how to liason between the KMT and the Ma administration, and where to draw the line between the KMT and the Ma administration. Solving this problem will not solve all its problems. But if it fails to solve this problem, it will continue to be bedeviled by the conundrum of the Father and Son Riding a Donkey, in terms of philosophy, policy, communications, and operations.

如何跳脫「父子騎驢」的困局？
【聯合報╱社論】
2008.07.15 04:11 am

馬政府就職五十五天。自上任不到十天起，民進黨立委就不時喊出「下台，下台」；至今，連藍營大老也公開主張「內閣改組」。這般恍如「牆倒眾人推」的景象，究竟出了什麼問題？

今日政局是一個「父子騎驢／人人笑罵」的政治劇場。批評者對「父／子／驢」的關係各有主張；主政團隊對「父／子／驢」的關係也莫衷一是。在這種情勢下，倘若主政團隊及批評者，不能對「核心／邊緣」、「本質／方法」、「長久／短暫」等元素作出區別，恐怕各自皆難跳出「父子騎驢」的困局。

其實，馬總統自競選期間以來所主張的核心政治承諾，迄今並未背離，且已相當程度地體現。例如：一、台灣社會終於跳脫國家認同及族群鬥爭的痛苦撕裂；不再見到「愛台／賣台」、「中華民國／台灣國」的相互攻擊。二、政府官員的行政表現雖大有改善空間，但已不見「上杜下謝又連莊」那種類型的人物，使政府的形象比較質樸。三、兩岸出現和解契機，台灣也終於能在更加鬆綁開放的兩岸關係上嘗試重建其區域政經角色。也就是說，馬政府至少在「療治國家撕裂

／建立質樸政府／改善兩岸關係」三方面，應可獲得正面評價；而這三方面可謂正是過去十餘年來台灣政經的心腹病灶所在。

相對而言，馬政府迄今的問題大略可分四個類型：一、藍綠思維的問題：任命賴幸媛，及提名沈富雄、張俊彥，皆引發大風暴。其實，這些人事安排確有比較高遠的政治瞻矚，但因馬總統的操作與溝通兩皆失敗，而國民黨中央及黨團又因種種「相對剝奪感」而障蔽了心竅，遂致原本一段佳話變成了如今一場鬧劇。但是，就理念層面言，一般社會大眾不是不能體會這類人事安排的善意，反而是對國民黨因此內訌表達不齒。

二、溝通拙劣的問題：沈富雄中箭落馬，就是一個溝通失敗的顯例；而類此事件已至不勝枚舉的地步。例如，「蘇花高／蘇花替」的爭議，行政院竟把一個「巧門」變成了「陷阱」。其餘的事例，如陳武雄的「而已」，陳肇敏的「三一九感言」，劉兆玄的「棄綠卡是犧牲」等等，這類sound bite，皆狠狠地在馬政府身上「咬」了一口。

三、操作能力的問題：操作問題是多方面的，例如前段談到的「陷阱」，馬政府自掘陷阱的事例似乎比例過高。「蘇花高／蘇花替」，是自掘陷阱；綠卡事件也是自己挖坑往裡跳，汽油及肥料出現囤積，亦是如此。逕自宣布七月四日包機直航，倘非胡錦濤送禮，更是大陷阱；眼前另一口自掘的陷阱則是「外交休兵」，不知何時將墜落其中。

四、政策抉擇的問題：面對數十年來僅見的世界經濟危機，政策的抉擇關係重大。例如油價策略、稅賦結構、產業競爭力、Ｍ型社會問題及調整兩岸政經關係等，皆是可以見仁見智的政策抉擇問題。但是，這類問題反而不如前述「沈富雄提名」及「車龍排隊六小時」、「蘇花替」等受到媒體關切，而民進黨的批評也未能超脫「反對黨八股」；因而，關於政策抉擇的盲點，頗有令人擔憂之處。

綜上所論，若欲跳出「父子騎驢」的困境，就批評者言，不必將「邊緣」上的差錯，放大為「核心」上的問題；例如將陳武雄的一句「而已」的失言，放大為存有惡意，畢竟他不是說「太平洋沒蓋子」。就執政團隊言，則不要因「方法」上的差錯，貽誤成「本質」上的問題；例如李慶安國籍事件，對執政團隊言，原是處理程序的「方法」問題，如今卻可能演變成「本質」問題。倘若批評者與主政團隊，皆能深化「核心／本質／長久」的元素，並精緻化「邊緣／方法／短暫」的元素，「父子騎驢」的困局或可望改善。

在這些問題之上，最重要的仍是執政團隊必須整理「第一線／第二線」及「黨政聯結／黨政分離」的戰略架構問題。解決了這個問題，並不能解決所有的問題。但若不能解決這個問題，在理念上、政策上、溝通上及操作上，必仍將是「父子騎驢」的局面。