Disaster Areas Aren't All That Need Rebuilding

Disaster Areas Aren't All That Need Rebuilding
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
August 19, 2009

Yesterday President Ma Ying-jeou called two press conferences. He tried to repair the major damage to his image in the domestic and foreign media over the past ten days. He apologized for his administration's negligence during the disaster relief period. He vowed to do a better job with resettlement and reconstruction.
Future attention will be focused on post-disaster reconstruction. But frankly disaster areas aren't all that need rebuilding. At least three things need urgent rebuilding.

The first thing that needs rebuilding is public confidence in the government. President Ma made a series of verbal gaffes, including, "Well you've gotten to meet me haven't you?", "What do you expect me to do?", "They weren't prepared" "They should have evacuated the area a long ago." Premier Liu accused the media of "amateurism." Official disaster relief efforts were far inferior to those of non-governmental organizations. Foreign relief materiel was shipped to the disaster areas, then back to the warehouse. Executive Yuan Secretary General Steve Hsieh argued, "Is having a meal on Father's Day so wrong?" These incidents severely undermined public confidence in the central government's disaster relief and post-disaster reconstruction efforts. Now, when officials show up at disaster areas to take command of relief, they are heckled and denounced. They have essentially become punching bags. Their ability to coordinate relief efforts has been seriously hampered. If this crisis of confidence can not be reversed, reconstruction efforts will be adversely affected. The government will experience headaches, but the disaster victims will experience even worse pain.

The second thing that needs rebuilding of course, is the cabinet. President Ma's verbal gaffes and poor management skills, may have made people unhappy. But the real responsibility for delays in disaster relief and reduced efficiency must be laid at the door of the Executive Yuan. The president long ago pointed the finger at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications Weather Bureau. Ironically the disaster relief official who alienated the press corps during domestic and foreign press conferences was none other than the Minister of Transportion. Other governmental ministries widely criticized include the Ministry of Economic Affairs Water Resources Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which refused foreign assistance, the Engineering Council, whose internal squabbles were filmed live by the media, and the Department of Defense, whose mobilization of troops was tardy and response inflexible. Hsiaoling Village and other areas have been devastated. The cabinet and ministries responsible for disaster relief have demonstrated how muddle-headed they are. The Ministry of Education and Ministry of Justice have little relevance to disaster relief. But which of the remaining six ministries has demonstrated even one iota of administrative efficiency? These ministries' inefficiency and these high-ranking officials' verbal gaffes were mutually reinforcing. The result is the current mess. Now the public is anxiously awaiting the pre-September personnel changes President Ma Ying-jeou promised during his press conference yesterday.

The third thing that needs rebuilding is the government's finances. According the government's preliminary budget estimates, post-disaster reconstruction will cost 110 billion NT. Unfortunately last year's Ministry of Finance tax cuts drastically increased the deficit. This year's tax revenues will experience a shortfall of hundreds of billions of dollars. It has nearly reached the statutory borrowing limit. The Ministry of Finance has in effect, caused a "financial landslide." The Ministry of Education dared not object to Premier Liu Chao-hsuan's impromptu changes to the school lunch program. It reduced the annual allocation from 17 billion to 2 billion. This amounted to another sort of landslide, the disastrous consequence of impromptu policy changes displacing normal national policy. The Ministry of Economic Affairs knew full well it was incapable of providing developmental aid to our semiconductor industry. But in order to save face, it stubbornly demanded a TMC subsidy. Out of the blue, it provided another 30 billion to a private corporation without going through the normal evaluation process. It created an industrial policy landslide. Such random expenditures effectively clogged up the nation's finance system. The result was insufficient financing for urgently needed reconstruction. Even if we resort to a special budget to avoid violating the Budget Law and the Public Debt Law, the after-effects will be serious.

Obviously more than the disaster areas need rebuilding. So do public morale, the composition of the cabinet, and the financial structure. If these cannot be corrected, post-disaster reconstruction will be difficult. The Ma administration that we all know so well will not have an easy time with these reconstruction tasks. Seven years ago, during the SARS crisis, Ma's Taipei City Government was also in chaos. But the nation is not a city. The impact of the 8/8 Flood far exceeds the impact of an outbreak of SARS at the Heping Hospital. If President Ma fails to take decisive action, he will not merely delay relief efforts, he will seriously undercut his own public support. His approval ratings will reach new lows.

The Ma Liu team has been in office for only 15 months. Once upon a time, the media described the Ma administration and the Liu cabinet as a "feel good" government. That the ruling administration finds itself in its current plight, is a far more serious disaster than the 8/8 Flood.

需要重建的，豈止是災區而已
【聯合報╱社論】
2009.08.19 02:37 am

馬總統昨日兩場記者會，主要是想修補他過去十天在中外媒體上遭受嚴重損傷的形象。他為救災期間的疏失致歉，也承諾將做好未來的安置及重建工作。

大家都知道未來的施政重點在災後重建，但是坦白說，這個國家所需要重建的，豈僅是災區而已？在這個當口，台灣亟需重建的，至少有以下三端：

首先，全台灣人民對執政者的信心，需要重建。馬總統「你不是見到我了嗎」、「你們要我做什麼」、「他們沒有準備好」、「他們該及早撤離」等失當言語，以及劉揆指責媒體記者「外行」、官方救災效率遠低於民間、外援物品往返搬動，乃至薛香川的「父親節吃頓飯過分嗎」等種種表現，都讓人民對中央政府處理災情與重建的信心大受創傷。現在，官員至災區指揮救災動輒被嗆、被罵，幾乎已經只是出氣的對象；他們所能發揮的協調功能也就大幅降低。這樣的信心危機若是無法扭轉，則重建效率必定大打折扣，不僅政府頭痛，災民更是難過。

第二個需要重建的，當然就是內閣團隊。坦白說，馬總統發言不當、統合不力，固然會讓人民心頭不快，但真正耽擱救災、延誤效率的，當然是行政院團隊。交通部氣象局早被總統點名，而救災中外記者會上能夠弄到不歡而散的指揮官，又正是交通部長。其他被普遍指責的，還包括經濟部水利署、外交部（拒絕外援）、工程會（內部會議發飆、讓媒體全拍）、國防部（動員官兵緩慢、調度僵化）等各大部會。放眼望去，不但小林村等災區滿目瘡痍，內閣與救災相關的部會也一個個都展現他們的顢頇情態。八部之中除了教育部與法務部較不相干外，有哪一個展現了一丁點的行政效率？各部會欠缺效率與府院高層的不當發言「相得益彰」，遂成了今天一團亂的局面。現在，國人皆在拭目以待馬總統昨日在記者會上承諾的九月以前調整的人事名單。

第三個需要重建的，是政府的財政。據政府粗估，災後重建需一千一百億預算，無奈劉內閣在財政部過去一年的減稅操弄下，使得政府赤字日益嚴重，今年稅收短缺數千億，舉債幾乎達到法定上限；這是財政部所製造的稅收土石流。教育部不敢對行政院長劉兆玄即興式的營養午餐支出表示意見，每年又活生生地減少了一百七十億至兩百廿億；這是即興政見排擠正常國家政策支出的土石流。經濟部在天不時、地不利、人不和的情況下，明知無助於我國半導體業發展，但為了面子，還要硬推ＴＭＣ補助，徒然加持一個未經評選程序的民間業者，又是三百億；這是亂推產業政策的土石流。這樣拉里拉雜胡亂支出，將全國財務融資的溝渠堵塞了，造成現在沒有餘力融通迫切需要的重建經費的窘境。即使勉強以特別預算迴避預算法及公債法規範，也將有極大的後遺症。

綜合以上分析可知，台灣所需要重建的，絕不只是災區，而是民心士氣、內閣組成、與財政結構。這三個面向若是不能矯治，則災後重建將是舉步維艱。我們當然了解，大家熟知的馬政府要做到前述三方面的重建，實在不容易。七年前ＳＡＲＳ侵襲台北時，馬市府團隊也是一團混亂。但是國家畢竟不是市府，八八水災的衝擊更是遠甚於和平醫院侷限一地的疫病，馬總統再不當機立斷，不僅延誤救災，也將嚴重影響其民意基礎，其民調支持恐將再探新低。

馬劉團隊執政僅僅十五個月，曾幾何時，「自我感覺良好」竟然成了台灣媒體用來形容馬政府與劉內閣的專有名詞。一個國家的行政團隊演變到這種地步，那絕對是比八八水患更嚴重的災情。