Well, the international media have stuck around for several days, roasting Ma Ying-jeou in nearly every story they dispatch. Apparently, the foreign media don’t seem to like Ma’s patronizing style of explaining his positions on things, and locals are starting to realize they have a crap leader. (This according to my g.f. who follows the local news and BBSes much better than I can.)
Very late last night, I noticed this WSJ headline at number 5 in the International section on Google News: Ma Ying-jeou’s Katrina Moment Some of the language used in the story included: “his government’s bungled response” and “the Ma administration’s flat-footed response aggravated the problem.”
And then there is the infamous CNN pollin which 80% of more than 12,000 respondents said Ma should step down. And one of CNN’s most recent stories, Taiwan’s leader takes blame for typhoon response, notes that “Ma Ying-jeou has refused to stand down over criticism.” Perhaps they remember the “A-bian, Xiatai!” crap from a few years back.
And, needless to say, the world now gets a taste of Teflon Ma’s great skill with English as a weasel language. Taipei Times reported it most clearly: said during the interview that he would take full responsibility for the blunders and mistakes made during rescue efforts, he defined “taking all responsibility” as finding out what was wrong with the rescue system, correcting the problems and disciplining officials in charge.
So, he’s gonna do the responsible thing and punish those responsible. This is so typical. The best commentary that I’ve read so far was by Liu Shih-chung 劉世忠 in today’s Taipei Times: Ma revives bureaucratic inefficiency
[quote]…For more than 50 years of KMT rule, the bureaucracy in Taiwan developed a unique character of passivity. The hierarchical bureaucracy has not only produced a “red stamp” culture and unnecessary “paper traveling,” but also failure on the part of the government to react to public needs in a timely manner. Bureaucratic inefficiency was deeply rooted in the government when the DPP came to power in 2000.
Even though the DPP government made tremendous efforts to counteract bureaucratic resistance and streamline government organization, its lack of central governing experience constituted the main source of Cabinet inefficiency in the early years of the tenure of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
But the bureaucracy can adapt. Under Chen’s second term, when most government officials had gained experience and were willing to listen to the rank and file, the bureaucracy was more efficient in implementing policy. Particularly when it came to natural disasters, the bureaucratic coordination of the former government outperformed the current KMT government. Because DPP leaders emphasized the achievement of goals and overall performance, the bureaucracy had no choice but to live up to it.
As power returned to the KMT, bureaucratic culture returned to its old ways. The bureaucracy’s weapons to stifle change are truly intimidating. The first line of defense is usually delay and obfuscation. Bureaucrats also tend to use crises to block initiatives for change. Most importantly, they can’t see the defects in their systems. They are isolated from the public and do not acknowledge people’s frustrations.[/quote]
That smells like the truth to me. My g.f. tells me some people were posting on the net that they’d rather have a corrupt president than in incompetent one.
And it seems vice foreign minister Hsia is the first big head to roll. I will be sorely disappointed if Premier Liu’s head doesn’t roll as well.
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Reminds me of Burma’s typhoon disaster and how stubborn/stupid those junta are [strike]should be kicked out[/strike]. (And of course, not to forget Indonesia…)