ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

I have been busy in the past few weeks.  It finally reaches the end and I can now stop watching all news related to Taiwan.  To be honest, I am extremely disappointed. 

What have I been spending my spare time in the past few weeks?  You probably won’t know that the amount of news and TV programs in Taiwan that I have been following and watching for the past few days is more than that of any given year. Bombarded with the news of unethical and even illegal dirty tricks against campaign opponents, I was actually getting tired of watching any TV programs or reading any news related to Taiwan's presidential election. Nothing is really new. Politics is a rough game everywhere and Taiwan is no exception.

Look at Bill Clinton, though he is a Democrat (now you know which party I usually vote for), though he was involved in a sex scandal, I have to say that some of his accomplishments cannot be erased.

Buried within mass media, at the end of the day, what really matters is the competency of the candidate. You have to ask yourself who can truly deliver what he/she promises. Nothing else matters. Not his/her virtues. Not his/her personality.  That being said, I am extremely shocked and disappointed at the outcome of Taiwan’s presidential election.  It finally reaches the end.  What a disappointing presidential election result.  It seems that the majority of the Taiwanese are blind-sided.  Another 4 years under an incompetent president. What will the future be like?  We will have to wait and see how he is leading Taiwan, hopefully not to a gravel yard.  Well, if that's what the majority of the Taiwanese want, an incompetent president who keeps no promises, delivers nothing and gives in whatever China demands, even sacrificing democracy in the end, there is really nothing the Taiwanese people can complain for another 4 years of dim future.  Talking about his “10 golden years” policy, how many years will he be in place?  He now has a very sound excuse not to deliver his promises since he will only be in place for another 4 years.  People cannot judge him for not delivering whatever he promises again.  Maybe having a president like him who has a pretty face (though I don't see why people think that he is handsome), does nothing, keeps no promises and acts like a yes-man towards China is what the majority of Taiwanese prefer.

I kept wondering what drove the majority of the Taiwanese people to vote for an incompetent president and to give him another chance to run the country for another 4 years.  Though it is not an overwhelming number, only 51.6% of Taiwanese voting for Ma, it is still counted as the majority of voters.  .  I wondered if the major reason was due to fear or reluctance of change in many Taiwanese mind.  It is our unwillingness to change due to inertia.  If you work for a big corporation, you have probably encountered changes constantly.  We know it all too well that corporations need to incorporate changes to compete globally and to stay in business during a gloomy economy even though the majority of us hate changes.  People will eventually realize that changes are inevitable and important and will have to learn to either embrace the changes or accept the changes.  You probably have all read the book "Who moved my cheese?"  Hopefully, the Taiwanese people will realize that there needs to be a change in its political system soon for the health of Taiwan's future.

Talking about the entire election campaign, I am especially angry at Obama influencing Taiwan's election.  I know that, in the past, the United Stated has been criticized for meddling with other countries' politics and influencing who will be in power. I tried to ignore that in the past but I cannot ignore it any more.  I am dumbfounded with Obama’s purpose of influencing the outcome of an election of a country striving to maintain democracy.  Would he rather see that country embracing China and turning into a Communist country?

With my puny brain, I also can’t grasp the benefit and purpose of Tsai resigning from her post.  Was it to take the blame of her failure to win the presidential election?  Was it how some people would have expected of her or how she would felt that others would have expected of her when she lost the election battle?  Or did she feel highly disappointed of herself and lose all faith in fighting for Taiwan’s future?  Anyway, it really serves no purpose for her to resign.  I think that Tsai should learn from this election and start planning for 2016’s election. The chance for her to win 2016’s presidential election is really high.  She should not resign from her position.  It might discourage people who voted for her, send a wrong message to them that she might have lost all faith in fighting for Taiwan’s future and weaken a somewhat divided party due to some different ideology that desperately needs her leadership.

What's important is to find out how to win the election in 2016? The Taiwanese is giving Ma another chance to be in place for another 4 years. They are going to find out that he is still the same old person who keeps no promises.  At that time, they are going to realize that something has to change. It is like the corporation that needs to incorporate changes to compete globally and to stay in business during a gloomy economy even though the majority of the employees hate changes. They will eventually know that changes are inevitable and important and will have to either welcome changes or accept changes then.

You heard me loud and clear.  I am very disappointed.  Anyway, the US presidential election is coming up soon.  I do hope that the outcome of the US presidential election this winter will not be as disappointing as that of Taiwan. Obama has to go. We need a new president who can truly deliver. To be honest, even though Obama is not a satisfactory president, he is still 100% better than Ma. At least, you can still count the miniscule one or two accomplishments that Obama achieved. 

By the way, due to what happened during the entire presidential election campaign process, I do question the accuracy of the vote counts.  It is highly likely that the results could be falsified.  There is always that possibility since the entire government system is controlled by KMT.  They can do whatever they want.  How can we trust a government like that?  In the future, there needs to  be representatives from different parties to watch the count of the election votes to ensure that there is no falsification.  Without transparency, democracy is impossible.  A country without transparency is not a democratic country.    
 

Written by Elisa English

On January 14, 2011