Before the last national election, I hoped that Ma would win for three reasons:
It was definitely time for a change
He seemed like a clean, smart professional politician
I though he could help the KMT reinvent itself
However, since he took over, there have been a number of indications that he is simply not forceful enough as a leader to give the country focus in times of trouble.
To whit: no reassuring telecasts about the financial meltdown; No creditable efforts to reconnect with the Taiwanese electorate who voted him in; No “message to the Nation” type of communications about ongoing negotiations with the PRC.
I think the public outcry over minor policy flip-flops like how many ppm of melamine in the milk are acceptable are emotional responses to a psychological leadership vacuum. Not a functional vacuum, but a personality vacuum.
I mean - where the fuck is Ma these days?? He’s not representing himself as head of the family.
Is he just too much of a pussy to go on TV and say “My fellow Taiwanese, …”??
There’s nothing wrong with your question Big John. Just ignore him.
I’m not sure if Ma Ying-jeou is finally realizing the level of pressure in the government. The pressure I’m talking about is corruption of course coming from those resistant to new ideas. There are not many clean politicians, if any and they may resort to dirty tactics. He may have to sleep with a few, so to speak to get something he wants. Taiwan is a stickler for change as it will only happen once the right people are lined up and waiting to receive their just profit from it.
I think any president will have to line up the the right profiteers in the right places before being able to enact anything new.
That’s because like most foreigners (and, to be many Taiwanese), you fell for Ma Ying-jeou hook line and sinker. While Ma appears to be smart because he speaks good English, he is at heart a culturally conservative Chinese nationalist. His main priority is improving relations with China and getting Taiwan back on track for unification.
Fundamentally, he has no new ideas for Taiwan’s economy or society. That is painfully obvious in the team of has-been technocrats who do not understand the changes in Taiwan’s economy, its society, or the outside world. Witness the vice-premier’s bizarre efforts to recycle the old Asian Regional Operations Center from more than 10 years ago the other day.
His administration’s biggest problem is that opening up to China is not a magic bullet for Taiwan’s economy. Their second biggest problem is that they don’t have money for all the state development projects they promised. Now, in the face of an international financial crisis, Vincent Siew wants to raid the foreign reserves kitty to fund wasteful development projects like the Taoyuan International Airport city.
You should have taken a closer look at Frank Hsieh’s policies. There was an extremely intelligent candidate (passed Taiwan’s bar exam while Ma did not) with a proven track record (transformation of Kaohsiung), and the toughness that comes out of 20 years of opposing a dictatorship and another 10 years of surviving the politics of a democratic political party.
Well, he made Hanyu Pinyin official, stopped the half-baked name changes, re-opened the CKS mausoleum, and rid the government of Hoklo supremacy sentiment. Good enough for me!
And that was one reason for my non-support of Xie. He would have been the lamest of lame duck presidents and would probably have been impeached. The KMT would have spun it that all of Taiwan’s woes could be blamed squarely on Xie, and we would have had to wait another four years for a KMT victory.
Now the KMT has enough rope to hang themselves. With the exception of Kaohsiung, there are blue mayors in all the major cities and in Taipei County, the legislature is blue and the presidency is blue. They’ve got no one but themselves to blame if they screw up, and they ARE screwing up - big time. If the DPP can get their act together, the next election should be a lot more interesting than the past one.
And as Chris said, at least Tongyong is gone. I would have appreciated a little more enthusiasm in support of Hanyu Pinyin, but what are you going to do?
You are being a bit presumptious to say that I fell for Ma “hook line and sinker”. I was never a big Ma fan. I just thought he seemed like he was the best candidate at the time. I have nothing against Hsieh except for the fact that he is corrupt. I guess that is OK with you? Ma seems squeaky clean, which is what this new little democracy needs.
Anyway, I supported Ma the same way I support Obama: it’s time for the other team to get their asses kicked for being retards, and the new team looks like maybe it could do much better.
[quote=“BigJohn”]
Anyway, I supported Ma the same way I support Obama: it’s time for the other team to get their asses kicked for being retards, and the new team looks like maybe it could do much better.[/quote]
Well you may be disappointed then with the Obama Administration,then. Just think of it, as a “been there, done that” when it comes around.
I don’t see how MYJ is suppose to help Taiwan in a global meltdown of the credit market. Just be happy that the ROC has a large cash reserve and is on friendlier terms with the PRC that has a 1.5 trillion cash reserve.
I mean would you rather Taiwan was on friendlier terms with the US that’s running a 1 trillion dollar deficit…which would really stabilize the economy in Taiwan… :loco:
In times like this the president’s job is in part to reassure people. Ma’s hads off approach strikes most as aloof and uncaring. These are extremely uncertain times and Ma and his cabinet are floundering. But then again, he was never an effective leader as anyone living under his admin in Taipei, and everyone who watch while he was chairman of the KMT, knows.
Like I have been saying for the past few months, the Ma admin is going down as the Bushies of Taiwan.
[quote]I don’t see how MYJ is suppose to help Taiwan in a global meltdown of the credit market. Just be happy that the ROC has a large cash reserve and is on friendlier terms with the PRC that has a 1.5 trillion cash reserve.
I mean would you rather Taiwan was on friendlier terms with the US that’s running a 10 trillion dollar deficit…which would really stabilize the economy in Taiwan…[/quote]
We would prefer they pursued goals that are of genuine interest to Taiwanese and not KMT fantasties of a unified Chinese people. As the US meltdown is showing, short-term economic growth can be achieved by policies that are inimical to long term health. Simply because China finds itself in good shape today relative to the west does not mean we inevitably must pursue long term integration of our economies.
The problem with Ma’s plans is they all rely on Chinese cooperation which leaves us vulnerable to Chinese manipulation. We’ve seen the manipulation clearly over the past 6 months so there is no point in pretending it will get better the more we olive branches we wave.
Look at tourism. The Chinese aren’t coming in the numbers they should and the admin is now scrambling to go back to DDP policies which were far broader in scope and actually encouraged more visitors from the regions that are supplying our tourists (Japan, Korea, and SE Asia). China is obviously an important part of our economy but it is not all, and there are huge risks involved in getting too close.
Risk, hmm, you’d think an American like you, or anyone with a shred of economic sense, would be adverse to policies that entail a high degree of future risk. So let’s have it. Why would you have Taiwan pursue risky goals at a time when the repurcussions of such behavior is obvious to all?
Chris, I can’t believe you, a Democrat for life, continue to say shit like this. Ma’s economic policies are much the same as the rightwing nonsense you were claiming the other day to be so glad have been discredited. Ma’s incompetence and lack of concern for the suffering of ordinary people is comparable to Bush’s. His admin’s attempts to lower food safety standards in the case of melanmine are again policies of de-regulation that you bash the Repubs for in the US. Finally, the KMT’s attempts to manipulate the Central News Agency, and their attempts to control the central election committee to ensure a perpetual KMT majority are all policies you would deplore in the US and frankly are so far above anything Chen did in terms of odiousness that I simply do not know where you are coming from. The KMT are a right wing party. How on earth do they get your support?
Chris, I can’t believe you, a Democrat for life, continue to say shit like this. Ma’s economic policies are much the same as the rightwing nonsense you were claiming the other day to be so glad have been discredited. Ma’s incompetence and lack of concern for the suffering of ordinary people is comparable to Bush’s. His admin’s attempts to lower food safety standards in the case of melanmine are again policies of de-regulation that you bash the Repubs for in the US. Finally, the KMT’s attempts to manipulate the Central News Agency, and their attempts to control the central election committee to ensure a perpetual KMT majority are all policies you would deplore in the US and frankly are so far above anything Chen did in terms of odiousness that I simply do not know where you are coming from. The KMT are a right wing party. How on earth do they get your support?[/quote]
They abolished Tongyong Pinyin!
In all seriousness, yes, I am disappointed by the way Ma has gone too far to the far side of the old KMT when I thought he was the new moderate face of a modern KMT that had finally pulled its head out of CKS’s ass. The people will punish him in due course.
Chris, I can’t believe you, a Democrat for life, continue to say shit like this. Ma’s economic policies are much the same as the rightwing nonsense you were claiming the other day to be so glad have been discredited. Ma’s incompetence and lack of concern for the suffering of ordinary people is comparable to Bush’s. His admin’s attempts to lower food safety standards in the case of melanmine are again policies of de-regulation that you bash the Repubs for in the US. Finally, the KMT’s attempts to manipulate the Central News Agency, and their attempts to control the central election committee to ensure a perpetual KMT majority are all policies you would deplore in the US and frankly are so far above anything Chen did in terms of odiousness that I simply do not know where you are coming from. The KMT are a right wing party. How on earth do they get your support?[/quote]
They abolished Tongyong Pinyin!
In all seriousness, yes, I am disappointed by the way Ma has gone too far to the far side of the old KMT when I thought he was the new moderate face of a modern KMT that had finally pulled its head out of CKS’s ass. The people will punish him in due course.
[quote=“BigJohn”] I have nothing against Hsieh except for the fact that he is corrupt. I guess that is OK with you? Ma seems squeaky clean, which is what this new little democracy needs.
Anyway, I supported Ma the same way I support Obama: it’s time for the other team to get their asses kicked for being retards, and the new team looks like maybe it could do much better.[/quote]
The fact that he is corrupt? What evidence do you have that Hsieh is corrupt? Stop reading the blue media.
You’re in Taiwan I assume, so I’m typing Chinese to answer your questions.
1)You think too much
2) You don’t understand Taiwanese culture.[/quote]
This is the same bullshit as trying to win an argument by saying: “You don’t understand, because you are not a woman”.
May we ask Namahottie to help us out a bit by describing the 6 major characteristics of Taiwanese culture, so we can better understand this forum ?
