Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Morakot has revealed the true Ma

Jerome Keating

What world does President Ma Ying-jeou live in? After Typhoon Morakot, it is a world of images — images past and images present. It is a world of imaginary images that have been built on, fostered and fashioned by years of faulty Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) paradigms and reinforced by their propaganda.

In the mind of Ma, his party and his spin-masters, image has always trumped performance. Taiwanese are finally realizing this and realizing that regardless of his words, Ma has no idea what it is to be Taiwanese.

Ma has China in mind, not Taiwan

Taipei Times

President Ma Ying-jeou has been roundly condemned for his and the government’s lackadaisical attitude to the human suffering caused by Typhoon Morakot.

The lack of empathy shown to victims by Ma and senior Cabinet members in the days after Morakot struck has left a bad taste in the mouth of many that is not likely to fade. This could impact on the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) performance in December’s local elections, not to mention Ma’s chances of re-election in 2012.

Chinese aren’t going to end the economic crisis

Larry Elliott

China is heading for big trouble. Fearful of a political backlash from the sort of deep recession being suffered in the west, Beijing has embarked on a program of reckless expansion that is providing short-term gain at the expense of long-term pain.

This is an unfashionable view. The conventional wisdom is that China has taken the bold steps necessary to tackle the global downturn, and that its mixture of Keynesian pump-priming and Leninist centralised control will help drag the rest of the world back to prosperity.

Ma needs a lesson in leadership

Taipei Times

When a natural disaster strikes, an analogy is often drawn between a government’s disaster relief efforts and that of its military going to battle. By this analogy, the government lost the battle of Typhoon Morakot.

President Ma Ying-jeou, as commander-in-chief, must shoulder responsibility.

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