Ma's Challenge: To Lead and Reform

Ma's Challenge: To Lead and Reform
China Times News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
June 17, 2009

"The people's expectations are higher than ever. Any mistakes are intolerable!" President Ma Ying-jeou explained that he ran for party chairman so that the party could help the administration and contribute to more effective governance. He said that electoral district considerations were forcing some legislators to maintain certain positions involving the allocation of resources. He said sometimes there is no absolute right and wrong. He said no one should conclude that Ma Ying-jeou, with his Teflon coating, was preparing to compromise in the interest of electoral advantage. When interviewed by Commonwealth Magazine he said "No such thing!" He came straight out and said that "Nominees must maintain certain standards, and winners must not engage in corruption."

Ma Ying-jeou's remarks suggest that he is psychologically prepared to do a good job. In fact, just before and after he declared his candidacy for party chairman, the KMT nominated Fu Kuen-chi for Hualien County Executive. Fu was defeated. Yunlin County Party Chairman Hsu Shu-po withdrew his candidacy and resigned his position. Rumors emerged that Hsu would be appointed chairman of the Taipei 101 building. But within 24 hours someone else had been appointed. Hsu Shu-po's father Hsu Wen-chi once served as Director of the KMT Organization Department. He came forward and pleaded on behalf of his son. He asked KMT Secretary General Wu Den-yih to provide him with a satisfactory explanation. Ma faces many challenges. They are hardly limited to "a small number of individual cases" concerning candidate nominations for the year end county and municipal elections. The challenges he faces are deep-rooted. Despite eight years in the political wilderness, the KMT has not changed its less than savory "quid pro quo" mentality.

The Hsu Shu-po case is merely the tip of the iceberg. Hsu Wen-chi accused the KMT of tolerating manipulation by factions. He was right on the mark. The faction Hsu accused was of course the family of former County Executive Chang Yung-wei, whose political machine controls large and small elections in Yunlin County. But what about the Hsu Wen-chi family? Isn't it a political faction as well? Not to mention current Yunlin County Executive Su Feng-chi's family, which has been in operation for years. It constitutes a faction of its own as well. Amidst this local ecology, factional interests invariably trump partisan interests. Can Ma Ying-jeou really change this? Can he convince the Chang family to put the interests of the people as a whole ahead of family considerations? If the Chang family is prohibited from running for both legislator and county executive, can it still control the county legislature, even assuming it wins the county executive election?

Magnify the ecology of local elections, and you have the ecology of the Legislative Yuan. Ma Ying-jeou has expressed a desire to bridge the gap between factions, to "tighten any screws connecting the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan and the party to the Legislative Yuan." The KMT holds an absolute majority of seats in the Legislative Yuan. Yet its performance is little better than it was during the DPP's eight years in office. Ma Ying-jeou's most pressing concern is the Sunshine Laws. They were sent to the Legislative Yuan, but watered down by ruling and opposition party legislators after bipartisan consultation. What can one do? No legislator, Blue or Green, truly wants any rays of sun shining into the national legislature. Ma Ying-jeou's list of priorities included nine bills. The legislature has convened its second session since he assumed office. Half the bills he wanted have been stalled. Only four have been passed.

Think back to the last election. Candidates for the legislature crowded around him, glommed onto him, were elected because of his endorsement. Today, not one them remembers that Ma Ying-jeou bet his personal reputation on them when he endorsed their candidacies. Now that they are unable to wet their beaks, this has become their biggest complaint. Premier Liu, who has a public and private friendship with Ma Ying-jeou, backs Ma Ying-jeou 100%. But because he refuses to tolerate corruption, legislators refuse even to accompany him on inspection tours. Since Ma Ying-jeou is unwilling to tolerate corruption, how can he possibly pacify them?

When Lee Teng-hui was president and party chairman, he sponsored a constitutional amendment abolishing the Legislative Yuan's right to approve the Premier. During the approval process legislators wanted every variety of quid pro quo. To allow the Premier to take office without resistance, he handed out all sorts of favors. Chen Shui-bian himself was once a legislator. He fully understood how the system works. When he became President and wanted his nominees for the Examination Yuan and Control Yuan approved, he used everything to pacify independent legislators, and even some Blue Camp legislators. This included everything from the carrot of government resources to the stick of judicial persecution. This showed him that the source of power was the ability to distribute spoils. In the end, even the heads of financial holding companies were appointed by Ah-Bian, leading to a major scandal that could no longer be swept under the rug.

President Ma is assuming the party chairmanship but refuses to engage in the distribution of spoils. How can he pacify party members? Take the controversy over the Parade and Public Assembly Act. He proposed changing the requirement for permits to a requirement for reports, and eliminating criminal penalties for social movement members. The result? Multiple penalties were eliminated, but the intial penalty was not. Most importantly the bill was unable to pass its third reading in the Legislative Yuan. The affairs of state are not decided by the presidential office following a coordination meeting. They are not decided by the KMT Central Standing Committee after passing a resolution. All policies, bills, and budgets must go through the Legislative Yuan before they can be implemented, before they can become "political accomplishments."

The Legislative Yuan is ineffectual. Before Ma assumed the party chairmanship, the KMT Central Standing Committee and the KMT Legislative Caucus could could still block some of the attacks against him. But once he assumes the party chairmanship, the affairs that Ma Ying-jeou must manage may be more numerous than he imagines. Among them will be affairs he should not manage, affairs involving fighting over political spoils.

Time waits for no man. The Ma Liu administration has undergone its one year trial period. It sees the problems, but it must be quicker to solve the problems. Ma Ying-jeou sees himself as the key to problem solving. He must persuade the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, and the party to accept his reforms. He must convince them to make clean government their core value. Merely listening to him is not enough. Ma touts himself as a consensus-based leader. He must learn to accept and promote the views of others, particularly views that differ from his own. Only then does he stand a chance of leaving behind the authoritarian era of the party/government complex.

中時電子報 新聞
中國時報 　2009.06.17
馬的挑戰：要落實領導也要改革到位
本報訊

「人民的期待空前的高，連一點瑕疵都無法容忍！」馬英九總統說明他決定參選黨主席，是為了以黨輔政，促成更有效的國政運作，他也不諱言，立委由於選區因素，會有些「必須的堅持」，這涉及利益資源分配，有時候沒有絕對的是非。不要以為不沾鍋的馬英九準備與選舉利益妥協了，沒有！他在接受《天下》雜誌專訪時，直截了當說，「提名要像樣點，當選不能貪汙。」

馬英九的談話，顯示他做好了心理準備。事實上，就在他宣布參選黨主席前後，國民黨縣市長提名先後發生花蓮縣長選舉提名，志在必得的立委傅?萁中箭落馬；雲林縣黨部主委許舒博宣布退選並辭黨職，事後傳出許將接掌一○一董事長，廿四小時之後，人事立即生變，許舒博的父親，曾任國民黨組工會主任的許文志，還出面為子抱屈，要求國民黨祕書長吳敦義給個交代。馬要挑戰的，不只是年底縣市長選舉提名的「少數個案」，而是盤根錯節、國民黨在野八年都改不掉的利益交換和不夠廉潔的本質。

許舒博的案例，只是冰山的一角。許文志質疑國民黨任由派系操控，說的一點沒錯，許質疑的當然是包辦雲林大小選舉的前縣長張榮味家族，但是，許文志家族何嘗不是派系呢？遑論現任雲林縣長蘇治芬家族，經營多年也自成一派了。面對這樣的地方生態，派系利益永遠超越政黨利益，馬英九改變得了嗎？說服得了張氏家族以全民利益為考量，不能選了立委又要縣長，選了縣長還要掌控議會嗎？

把地方生態拉高放大，就是立法院生態。馬英九自陳要扮演彌合縫隙的人，「扣緊螺絲有點鬆的府院黨與立法院的連結。」國民黨在立法院擁有絕對多數席次，議事品質卻與民進黨執政八年相去不遠，馬英九最在意的陽光法案，送進立法院在朝野協商中被打了折扣，沒辦法，不分藍綠，沒有哪個立委真心要陽光全面照進國會；馬英九點單的九大優先法案，在他就職後的第二個會期，依舊被打了五折，只通過四個。

當年，擠著、貼著、靠著馬英九輔選站台當選的藍委們，沒有人還會記得，馬英九是用自己的清廉為他們的人品背書，如今，什麼都不能吃，什麼都吃不到，成為他們私下最大的抱怨，和馬英九公交私誼都甚篤的行政院長劉兆玄，這點倒和馬英九完全合拍，什麼都給不了，連立委都懶得陪劉揆視察地方。馬英九什麼都不給吃，擺得平嗎？

李登輝當年總統兼黨主席，修憲取消了立法院對行政院長的同意權，就是因為立委行使同意權過程中，什麼都能要，為了讓閣揆順利就任，還什麼都得給；陳水扁自己當過立委，深諳箇中之道，當了總統，就是在立法院行使考監院人事同意權的時候，從資源利誘到司法威脅，逐一擺平摸順無黨籍、甚至部分藍營立委，讓他嘗足了權力原來就是資源分配之遊戲，玩到最後，連金控人事都成了扁的政治任命，終至玩出收不了場的大弊案。

不搞資源分配的總統兼黨主席，能協調什麼？馬英九自己舉例，集遊法爭議，是他主張把許可制改成報備制，並找了社運人士拿掉處罰，結果呢？處罰拿掉了連續罰，還是要罰，最重要的，這個法案依舊無法順利在立法院三讀。國政運作，絕對不是在總統府開完協調會，或者經過中常會決議就算了的，所有的政策、法案、預算都要經過立法院，才能落實執行，才能成為「政績」。

不兼黨主席前，議事無力的立法院，還有國民黨中央與黨團擋著炮火，兼了黨主席之後，府院黨俱馬英九之責，馬英九要管的事可能比他想像的更多，其中，愈是不該他管的事，愈是可能利益糾葛。

時間，等不了人，就任總統一年，馬劉政府走過了摸索期，看到了問題，必須縮短解決問題的時間，馬英九把自己當成解決問題的關鍵之鑰，除了說服府院黨齊心接受他的改革理念，以廉潔效能為核心，他還得真心學會聆聽；聆聽還不夠，馬自許是「共識型」領導，他也必須學會接受並推動別人的意見，特別是和他不同的意見，這樣才有機會走出不同於威權政黨時代的黨政合一。