Wednesday, October 25, 2023

 On Governance

* Taiwan's presidential election is heating up, with the primary focus on whether the KMT would collaborate with Taiwan People's Party (TPP) and form a combined ticket. While both parties have voiced the intention to collaborate, no concrete progress has been made in the last two weeks. There is no indication that the proposed KMT-TPP collaboration appears imminent, but the end of October is the deadline that would either make, or break, the planned alliance.

* The stalled negotiations can only be interpreted as a result of too much "self-centered political calculation." Each party has its own set of interests and clearly lacks the understanding necessary, and appreciation, of gesture and rhetoric coming from the other party. Without a foundation of trust, the collaboration probably wouldn't work, and even if it did, it likely would not survive the first instance of policy, or operational, disagreement.

* Governance is the measurement of governmental performance for the benefit of the people. Usually it's not the accomplishment of a single person, but a group of competent, committed officials working together as a team. As people often say, "it's no longer the age of one-man show."

* This is something that has been overlooked in the presidential campaign. Voters would examine candidates' qualification, experience, and policy proposal in making their decision, but seldom they would question whether a particular candidate has "a team" to govern effectively and whether this "team" has accomplished enough in the past to warrant another shot at governance. Maybe people can dig a bit deeper, think a bit wider before casting their ballot.

Monday, October 2, 2023

政黨的放話文化

* 台灣的2024大選,進入倒數100天。除了三不五時公布的民調,現階段最熱門的話題就是「藍白合」---要不要合、怎麼合都是民眾(尤其是泛藍的選民)關心的事。但輿論談了幾個月,「只見樓梯響,不見人下來」,政黨各懷鬼胎、別有用心,數個月來進展有限,目標仍是遙不可及。

* 國民黨民眾黨雖同為在野,但彼此的理念、政策上不盡相同,在「下架民進黨」為最高戰略目標的驅使下,有來自基層的壓力希望藍白1+1能夠大於2,各自政黨的「高層人士」近日更頻頻放話,批評對方基層實力不足、各級民代名額有限、以及自己的提名人不可能居副位等,讓彼此互信全無,加深整合的困難。

* 曾在稍早的評論裡,提及「藍白合」的困難,以及對未來「非綠陣營」整合的悲觀。相關的看法至今未見改變,也因為「民主」是舶來品,政黨與政客只知道「整碗捧去」,而不懂得包容妥協的可貴,也就是「合併好談、合作免談」。 在未來百日內,如果藍白政黨繼續堅持「老大心態」,強調「有我沒你」,那「藍白合」將是天邊遙不可及的彩虹,最終的獲利者依然是現在的執政黨。