Ma Ying-jeou's Last Three Years, Taiwan's Next Three Years

Ma Ying-jeou's Last Three Years, Taiwan's Next Three Years
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
May 21, 2013

Summary: By the first anniversary of President Ma's second term, President Ma's public approval rating fell to 20%. His administration has stumbled all the way. Danger continues to loom for the remaining three years of his second and final term. For both President Ma and the Taiwan Region, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Full Text below:

By the first anniversary of President Ma's second term, President Ma's public approval rating fell to 20%. His administration has stumbled all the way. Danger continues to loom for the remaining three years of his second and final term. For both President Ma and the Taiwan Region, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

During the five years since 2008, Ma Ying-jeou has gone from charismatic national leader to lame duck president. Ma Ying-jeou faces more than just a decline in national morale. He also faces difficult to overcome obstacles to his leadership. Among these are a deepening "national malaise," intense obstruction from the political opposition, but most of all, his administration has lost its bearings and its ability to move the nation forward. He has run up against a brick wall. These three factors are related and connected. In any event, the remedy for the "lame duck syndrome" lies in President Ma's hands. He must find a way to break through the brick wall.

Given his plight, President Ma is sure to be confused and anxious. But one must never forget that the confusion and anxiety experienced by the public on Taiwan far exceeds his. Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian governed for 20 years. They left the nation a mess. The public desperately hoped the chaos of Taiwan's democracy would end under the Ma administration, given strong public support. They hoped the economy would regain its vitality. They hoped social divisions would be healed. But five years later, it is clear their hopes were in vain. During the 2008 general election, some "elders" predicted that if elected, Ma Ying-jeou would bring about a wave of "peace and prosperity." The result however, has been an uncertain peace and an ever elusive prosperity.

For precisely this reason, Ma Ying-jeou is thinking hard about what he will do during the next three years. He must not remain preoccupied with honoring unfulfilled campaign promises, and with filling in the gaps in his blueprint for governance. Otherwise, he will find himself trapped, chasing after outdated commitments. What Ma Ying-jeou must do, is understand and respond to the yearnings of the public. He must come up with a concrete antidote to its problems. He cannot pull a rabbit out of a hat. He cannot suddenly announce some secret formula to stimulate the economy. Instead he must summon up the passion and sense of mission befitting a national leader. He must win back those members of the public who lost confidence in him. He must aggressively seek to restore Taiwan society's lost cohesion.

President Ma's halo has lost its luster. This is due to three factors. The first factor is personal. Ma has a bland personality. He led a charmed life. He never experienced setbacks during his development. He never acquired a feel for what it was like to be ordinary folk. He lacks heartfelt social concern. He often allows himself to become caught up in trivial or superficial matters. He has never evinced the boldness expected of a leader. He has never been able to inspire people with his own passion. The result has been a society mired in apathy and helplessness.

The second factor is governmental. President Ma has a tendency toward homogenization. This is not conducive to the diversity of though or dynamic decision-making. Add to this Blue vs. Green ideological confrontation, and it became increasingly difficult for him to recruit talent. Political appointees settled into career official positions. It was impossible for him to establish an effective brain trust. His policy making ability failed to meet public expectations.

The third factor was social. During President Ma's first four years, the bar was set extremely low. Chen Shui-bian was corrupt. The DPP was incompetent. Ma championed clean government and cross-Strait rapproachment. These were easy to reach political objectives. But peoples' expectations for national progress continued to rise. The fruits of cross-strait reconciliation have already been harvested. Meanwhile, the clean government he championed was soon tainted by Lin Yi-shi on his left, and Lai Shu-ju on his right. Currently the public looks forward most eagerly to vital issues such as economic development, social equity, and justice. They see no progress. Instead the ruling administration remains engrossed in organizational transformation, national education reform, and other non-urgent matters. Little wonder the public is anxious and dissatisfied. The administration's agenda utterly ignores the peoples' feelings.

President Ma's achievements in cross-strait reconciliation are clear for all to see. But this is his second term. Virtually all of the benefits have been reaped. There is not much more to be had. Over the past year, the Ma administration's energy has been devoted almost entirely to U.S. beef imports, capital gains taxes, pension reform, and a referendum on the Number Four Nuclear Power Plant. Not one of the four problems has been solved. How can such governance win the support of the people?

Over the next three years, President Ma must not think about how many items on his "to do" list have been checked off. He must lift his eyes and see what the public on Taiwan wants. Some of what it wants are missed opportunites. Some of what it wants he can still accomplish. He must think about how to do them. Only then can he avoid betraying the expectations of 23 million people. For an individual, three years is a short period. But for the nation as a whole, three years of ups and downs, of missed opportunities, means that millions of people cannot be rescued from their plight. If President Ma squanders these three years, he will waste three years out of the lives of 23 million people. This is not something he can afford to be cavalier about!

馬英九的三年與台灣未來三年
【聯合報╱社論】
2013.05.21 01:23 am

在兩成的低支持度中一路蹣跚，馬總統度過了他連任後的第一個周年。剩下的三年任期，形勢依然處處險峻；對馬總統和對台灣而言，隧道出口的光明似乎仍然可望而不可即。

自二○○八年以來領導台灣五年至今，從魅力領袖變成跛鴨總統，馬英九面對的其實不只是民氣的滑坡，而是一道難以突破的領導障礙，有如銅牆。其中，有社會鬱悶的加深，有在野的強力杯葛，更大的因素則是他領導的執政團隊失去指引及推動國家前進的力量；三種因素陳陳相因，交互糾纏。但無論如何，打破「跛鴨魔咒」的金鑰其實掌握在馬總統自己手裡，他必須找出正確的鑰匙來開啟穿越銅牆之門。

面對自己的領導困境，馬總統一定懷有極大的困惑和焦慮；但切勿忘記，人民對台灣欲進不前的憂心和焦慮，絕對遠甚於他的心情。因為，歷經李、扁廿年的紛亂治理，人們極度渴望台灣民主的亂象能在馬政府的絕對優勢治理下定紛止爭，使經濟重拾活力、社會撕裂重新彌合；但是，五年來，這樣的期待顯然落空。二○○八年大選時，曾有政壇大老預言馬英九若當選將可為台灣帶來一波「太平盛世」，結果太平縹緲不定，而盛世則不見影蹤。

正因如此，馬英九在思考未來三年的作為時，絕不能一心只想著自己還有多少大選政見尚待兌現，自己的執政藍圖還有什麼角落尚未構築；那樣的話，他將繼續陷於在虛妄的思維裡追逐自己過期的承諾。馬英九必須做的，是從理解及回應台灣人民的渴望入手，拿出積極而具體的作為。這個解藥，絕非從懷中掏出一個神奇錦囊，或是宣布一帖刺激景氣的祕方；而是必須拿出領導人的熱情和使命，鼓舞對他喪失信心的民眾，並積極重新召喚台灣社會消散的凝聚力。

馬總統魅力的下滑，可大致歸因於三項因素：第一，個人因素方面：他個性平和，且因成長過程缺乏挫折及草根歷練，社會關注之厚度及縱深不足，有時流於瑣碎或膚淺，乃至欠缺大開大闔的領導氣魄。尤其，他一直難以用自己的熱情來激發人民的感動，也讓社會充滿冷感和無奈。

第二，執政團隊因素：馬總統用人有同質化之傾向，這不利於政府決策的多元化思考及機動因應。加上藍綠對峙，延攬人才日益不易，政務官「事務官化」的現象已極為明顯，不僅無法形成強有力的決策智囊，決策執行力也常難以滿足民間的期待。

第三，社會變遷因素：馬總統的首屆四年，是建立在陳水扁貪腐及民進黨執政失能的低標準基礎上，他推動清廉訴求及兩岸融冰，即能輕易建立政績。但人民對於國家進步的期待不斷在提高，兩岸和解的成果已經收割，而清廉訴求卻被林益世、賴素如等左右手的貪腐污損殆盡。目前民間期待最切的經濟發展、社會公平及司法正義等切身議題，遲遲看不到進展；而執政團隊汲汲經營的卻是組織改造、國教改制等非迫切事項，也難怪人民躁鬱不滿，因為政府的施政時程表無法對應民間感受。

馬總統在兩岸和解上的成績，自然有目共睹；但這對他的第二屆任期而言，其實幾乎已是「利多出盡」，助益無多。而過去一年，馬政府的精力幾乎全部耗費在美牛、證所稅、年金改革及核四公投等四個議題上；一年連四個政策都無法解決，這樣的治理效能如何獲得人民支持？

總結而言，未來三年的任期，馬總統必須思考的，絕不是自己手上的記事本還有多少件沒結案的計畫，而是要抬起頭來看看整個台灣對他的期待──有些是錯過了，有些則來得及彌補，想想自己要怎麼做，才不會辜負這兩千三百萬人的未來。就個人而言，三年不過是生命裡的一小段軌跡；但對整個國家而言，三年的興衰升沉，錯過了時機，就是千萬人難以挽回的命運。馬總統若浪費這三年，就是浪費了兩千三百萬人的三年，不可不慎！