AmCham head blasts problem of leadership

In a November issue of Topics, Dr. Richard R. Vuylsteke writes that the best political leaders both inform and shape public opinion.

Topics is an AmCham journal.

“One of the more significant requirements for strengthening Taiwan’s social, political and economic status by the year 2020 will be the rise of leaders who do more than just shape public opinion,” stresses Dr. Vuylsteke, who has submitted his resignation as AmCham executive director, effective Feb. 22 next year.

Then he will leave for Hong Kong to head the American Chamber of Commerce in the former British crown colony.

The past seven years have witnessed an unhealthy — and often unseemly — evolution of leadership that pursues cross-faction and cross-party rhetorical vendettas, sows unnecessarily disruptive ethnic discord, and exhibits a profound pettiness of personal interaction that has soured the public image of political factional and party leaders, Dr. Vuylsteke notes.

“Nasty innuendo, false and unsubstantiated claims, bogus statistics, and a seemingly endless string of legally frivolous lawsuits dominate media reporting on current leaders and their interactions,” Dr. Vuylsteke points out.

Political leaders have made little effort to cultivate public understanding of critical issues that seriously affect public welfare and economic well-being, Dr. Vuylsteke goes on. They have failed to make research and reflection to substantively address issues that worry the man in the street.

Informing the public is easy for leaders when they stick with warm and fuzzy generalizations; it is difficult when hard facts indicate the need for tough decisions and near-term public sacrifice.

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