The gross inertia of Taiwan's gov't

In fact, the CY had just censured 14 government agencies for dereliction of duty when Typhoon Kalmaegi hit this island in July last year. However, according to Wang, these organizations did not give heed to the warning to the point of “contempt of the CY authority.”

The gravity of the problem as revealed by repeated blunders in meeting with natural disasters such as typhoons and accompanying floods has forcefully demonstrated a gross inertia of the government marked by a lack of power to move and act and the fact that even it is in motion, it continues in a lethargic and irresponsible manner.

This state of inertia in which the Taiwan government has found itself in recent years is caused primarily by three factors:

1. Lack of personal integrity as blatantly displayed by the corrupt behavior of large numbers of officials from top to bottom, particularly during the eight years of the Chen Shui-bian administration. It has long been reported, for example, that almost all construction works in Taiwan have been affected, to varying degrees, by the use of less or inferior materials, because this is considered one of the important ways to make profit.

2. Too much bureaucracy. With a long tradition of a civil service system, Taiwan has been widely known for so much red tape in the government that it seriously impairs the efficiency of its day-to-day operations. This was why some local officials blamed the central government for not acting quickly in its relief efforts while the Ma Ying-jeou administration in turn pointed its fingers at local authorities.

3. Partisan politics. By coincidence, most of the flooded areas are in the south of Taiwan, the stronghold of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Little wonder, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the DPP are trading charges over which should bear the major responsibility for the disaster.

Judging from the above, one can easily see that the issue raised by Typhoon Morakot is much larger than the hurricane itself, although it dealt one of the heaviest blows to Taiwan in terms of the loss of human lives, property damage and widespread havoc in the national infrastructure. The natural calamity exposed the profound weakness of the government of Taiwan with loose and missing nuts and bolts everywhere, which is even more serious than overt corruption.

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