Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The controversy over whether President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) or “Mark Y.J. Ma” owes the US government tax, and whether he continues to have permanent US residency confirms that both the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and Ma have been reticent about the truth. The AIT tried to obfuscate the issue, upon which Ma’s stooge held up the AIT’s missive as some kind of authoritative statement.

At the government’s request, the AIT’s office in Washington produced “evidence” in the form of a vaguely worded letter. It did so to comply with the wishes of the Ma administration, but it failed to convince the public, and in so doing has damaged the institute’s good name.

In the six years that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been in office, the political situation has deteriorated into turmoil and instability. The economy is weak, the wealth gap has expanded, and both Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and opposition legislators, as well as the public, are complaining.

Many of the reforms Ma pledged to implement during his presidential election campaigns have never been fulfilled. Here are a few examples of his broken promises: divesting the KMT of all its ill-gotten party assets, reforming the civil servant pension system, 6 percent economic growth, an all-volunteer military, a defense budget that amounts to 3 percent of GDP and streamlining the government.