Political Posturing Worthless During a Disaster

Political Posturing Worthless During a Disaster
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
March 24, 2011

Summary: The equanimity of the Japanese people during the recent earthquake made the world sit up and take notice. By contrast, the Japanese government was sluggish in its relief efforts. Its response to the nuclear emergency was bungled and disappointing. The government is charged with the distribution of national resources, with determining priorities, and with leading pubic opinion. But when disaster struck, Tokyo was nearly impotent. The disaster revealed the government's incompetence. People need to consider reigning in the power of Leviathan government.

Full Text below:

The equanimity of the Japanese people during the recent earthquake made the world sit up and take notice. By contrast, the Japanese government was sluggish in its relief efforts. Its response to the nuclear emergency was bungled and disappointing. The government is charged with the distribution of national resources, with determining priorities, and with leading pubic opinion. But when disaster struck, Tokyo was nearly impotent. The disaster revealed the government's incompetence. People need to consider reigning in the power of Leviathan government.

Over the past two decades, Japan has remained mired in recession. The same is true on the political stage, where efforts to divide and rule and political unrest have aggravated each other. The recent disaster was a complex disaster. Any government would have been overwhelmed. The Japanese government's performance was worse than usual. It was opaque as well. Local government relief and resettlement efforts were fairly orderly. But the transport of post-disaster relief materiel was relatively slow. Victims suffered from both bereavement and starvation. The civil service, long praised for its machine-like efficiency, seems to have gotten rusty.

The scenario in Japan has held up a mirror to the public on Taiwan, and allowed them to see their own problems. Faced with a major crisis similar to Japan's, could we do better? This is probably a question neither the ruling and opposition parties, nor anyone else on Taiwan can answer in the affirmative. No one in our current political environment cares a whit about making advance preparations for future disasters, or about solving social problems. They care only about paving the way for their own political ambitions, and erecting obstacles in the path of their political opponents. Once disaster strikes, the first reaction of politicians is to point fingers at others, and make excuses for themselves. No one is willing to approach problems pragmatically.

The March 20 anti-nuclear protest march was a stark example. Radiation leakages in Japan have forced the public on Taiwan to rethink the issues. New responses to nuclear power plant safety management and crisis response are needed. We may even need to consider alternatives to nuclear power generation. This should have been the goal of the protest march. This activity was initiated by environmental groups. Yet Green Camp politicians normally indifferent to these issues positioned themselves at the head of the procession, They hogged the media limelight. They usurped the protest march, and turned it into a campaign rally. Environmentalists were pushed to the back of the procession. Kungliao villagers were ignored from start to finish. Political grandstanding reached new lows.

The DPP has shrilly opposed nuclear power generation for 20 years. But when it was in office, it first halted then restarted construction on Nuclear Plant Four. Now that it is once again in the opposition, it has returned to shouting anti-nuclear slogans. Its repeated waffling grossly increased the cost of Nuclear Plant Four, and repeatedly delayed its completion. The introduction of more variables has jeopardized future security. Worst of all, the DPP has never sought to make nuclear oversight and management more professional. It has sought only to hog the anti-nuclear spotlight. How can such opportunism possibly promote the safe use of nuclear energy?

The DPP's anti-nuclear posturing is merely one example. Everyday on Taiwan, the political agenda brims over with hypocritical expressions of concern. None of them ever hit their targets, because none of them are rooted in professionalism or genuine concern. That is why they are expressed in such strident terms. That is why they required props and sensationalism. That is why city and county council members insisted on brandishing flaming torches. That is why legislators demanded that a Japanese flag be flown at half mast. That is why they demanded that Taipower present a list of 50 deceased persons. That is why they made political hay out of the inscription on someone else's funerary urn. Which of these political gestures did anything to promote the public welfare? Which of these political gestures was sincere, responsible, and substantive?

Democracy on Taiwan has spun its wheels for over a decade. It has transitioned from a multi-party system to a two party system. The energies of both the ruling and opposition parties have been squandered on electioneering, mobilization, and the struggle for power, not on growing the economy. The situation is clear to see. First, politicians engage in theatrical question and answer sessions. They undermine official efforts to maintain professionalism, while offering no solutions of their own. Secondly, politicians use ideology to distort the significance of real world events. They prevent anyone else from finding solutions to the problems. Thirdly, politicians resort to populist demagoguery. They engage in glib sophistry. They abet the rise of extremism. Those unwilling to sink so low soon take themselves out of the running. Politicians on Taiwan have created far more problems than they have ever solved.

In times of peace, populist grandstanding merely results in overspending. But in times of crisis, the truth emerges. Japan experienced a three in one disaster. Politicians in Tokyo spouted pious rhetoric. Self-disciplined members of the public on the other hand, helped maintain social order. Courageous rescuers laid down their lives attempting to bring the nuclear disaster under control. If not for them, who knows where Japan might be? The disaster has taught the public on Taiwan a lesson. When disaster strikes, political grandstanding is worthless. A nation can successfully respond to a crisis only if the ruling and opposition parties forsake their habit of empty posturing. The public must vote out politicians who only blow hot air.

A number of politicians are vying for the presidency, They are seeking high office. But have they ever considered the weighty responsibility they must assume? Are they really prepared?

遇上災難，政治一點都不管用
【聯合報╱社論】 2011.03.24

這次震災，日本民眾的沉著自制令全球刮目；相形之下，日本政府救災賑災慢三拍、搶救核災一再失效脫槌，讓人失望。政治當局主導國家資源的分配，決定公共事務的優先順序，占據社會議題的焦點；然一旦遇上災難，東京的政治中樞卻幾乎束手無策。這場災難，暴露了政府角色的失能，民眾也應重新思考如何馴服政治這頭權力怪獸。

近廿年日本國力衰退，與之平行的是政壇的縱橫捭闔、政治的動盪擾攘，兩者互為因果。其實，這次來勢猛烈的複合式災難，任何國家遇上了都必是手忙腳亂，但日本政府的表現卻更為離譜，且相當不透明。地方政府方面，救災安置尚稱秩序井然，但動態的物資運補及災後搶救則相對遲緩，讓災民同時遭受喪親及挨餓受凍之苦。以往受人讚譽的日本行政效率及鋼鐵般的公務員隊伍，似乎也生了鏽。

日本的景象像一面照妖鏡，也讓台灣看到自己的問題。若是面對日本那樣的大危機，我們能不能做得較好，這恐非朝野或任何人所能誇口。進一步看，我們當前的政治運作，目標都不是在幫助台灣作好準備，或在幫社會大眾解決問題，而只是在為政治人物自己鋪設舞台，並給對手製造難題。一有事故，政治人物的第一反應不是在怪罪別人，就是在為自己尋找卸責藉口，這皆非務實面對問題的態度。

三二○反核大遊行，就是赤裸裸的寫照。目睹日本輻射外洩危機，台灣確需重新思考此一議題，設法加強現有電廠的安全管理及危機因應，甚至思考核能的替代方案，這應是遊行的宗旨。但這場環保團體發起的活動中，卻是平日對此不聞不問的綠營政治人物走在隊伍前端，霸占了發言舞台，將遊行篡竊為自己的造勢大拜拜；環保人士則被擠到隊伍尾巴，貢寮鄉民更從頭到尾乏人聞問。政治操弄到這般地步，真是何其厚顏！

民進黨高唱反核廿年，它執政時下令核四停工，旋又宣布重新開工；如今在野，再回頭吶喊反核。如此反反覆覆，徒使核四興建經費暴漲、時程不斷拉長、變數增多，更平添未來的安全疑慮。更可議的是，它從未設法從專業層面去加強核安的監督與管理，卻始終霸著反核的舞台不放。這種機會主義作風，如何保證核能的安全無虞？

反核只是一例，台灣每天的政治議程上充滿著這類沒有真誠關懷的空包彈，當然也就無法命中什麼真實的目標。由於缺乏關懷與專業，所以得用疾言厲色來包裝，甚至藉助道具和煽情演出來爭取曝光。諸如議員強要將火把帶進議場，立委提議為日本降半旗，要求台電提出五十死士名單，拿他人父親骨灰罈上的刻字做文章，哪一項有助於國計民生？哪一項是真誠、負責、有料的問政？

台灣政治陷於空轉已十餘年，從先前多黨並起到如今兩黨爭衡，朝野的心力幾皆耗在選舉動員、爭奪權力，而不是在建設國家。大家看到的現象是：一，作秀式的質詢充斥，磨損了官員心力和專業見解，卻無法提供解決方案；二，對於實際存在的現象，屢屢用意識形態來扭曲其本質，導致問題完全無法聚焦；三，民粹式的問政風氣，徒讓逞口舌、走極端的政客崛起，不願隨波逐流的人反遭淘汰。台灣政治人物所製造的問題，遠比他們解決的問題多太多。

在太平歲月，表演式民主政治或許尚容揮霍，但一碰到危機，真相馬上現形。日本的三合一災難，要不是有那麼多自持的民眾在支撐社會秩序，要不是有那麼多捨命勇士在核電廠搶救，光靠東京那些高談闊論的政治人物，這個國家不知將淪於何地。這正是這場災難帶給台灣民眾最大的啟示：碰到災難，政治表演其實一點用處都沒有；要讓國家具有因應危機的能力，朝野必須改變虛問虛答的問政風格，民眾要用選票淘汰那些只會膨風的政客。

許多人正搶著要當總統、爭大位，他們可曾想過：在需要擔起千鈞重擔的一刻，自己究竟有幾分準備？