Hitting the nail on the head

The tough guy who likes to call a spade a spade and who would rather break than bend, chose to leave the Cabinet over a difference with his boss Wu Dun-yih on an insurance premium hike. Premier Wu would like to let 75 percent of the insured be left alone, while Yaung insisted that the most he could do is to keep 59 per cent of the insured unaffected by the proposed premium increase. "I just couldn't do it,” Yaung said, referring to the Executive Yuan's version of premium hike.

In a written statement about his resignation, Yaung said bluntly that Taiwan's “over-frequent” elections are a ”disaster for both the country and people." “Good policies are hijacked by elections and held hostage,” he said in the statement.

In order to win elections, good policies that benefit the majority of people have to be put aside for fear of losing the support of a small number of opponents whose votes must be won, he said. The be-all-end-all of election is winning at any cost, because losing means losing everything, he added.

Yaung cited the recent legislative by-election as an example. While only a few seats were up for grabs, political figures from the president on down must go all-out to campaign for their candidates. “This is harmful to the long-term development of the country,” he said.

The harm has become evident. Not only are good policies hijacked by elections, but so are good, outspoken, and responsible officials who dare to make unpopular but necessary decisions. To cure Taiwan's ailing, hemorrhaging health insurance program requires hard medicine, not a placebo. It is apparent that Dr. Yaung's prescription is the wrong medicine at the wrong time with a major election looming large.

For nearly two decades, Taiwan has wasted too many resources on elections. On average, there has been one election every year. Last year we had “three-in-one” local elections. This year we'll have “mega-municipalities” elections. Next year will be the prelude to the 2012 presidential vote. It is wasteful, divisive and detrimental to the country's long-term viability.

Politically, Taiwan is being torn apart by ideology and ethnicity, into a state where “you are either with us or against us.” Economically, Taiwan has become dangerously marginalized due to Sinophobia. While Taiwan was busy with divisive, cut-throat elections, other countries wasted no time to develop themselves. South Korea, China, and Singapore have leaped to the fore, leaving Taiwan to tread water. The island's international competitiveness has been weakened as a result.

A recent study by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), an American think tank, revealed a set of thought-provoking figures on how the world's major industrialized countries have fared in competitiveness and renovation. Although Taiwan was not included in the study, it won't be hard to sense where Taiwan would have ranked had it been included.

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