Yaung Chih-liang, whose proposed hikes of NHI premiums reportedly have been rejected by Premier Wu Den-yih, issued a statement lamenting that the high frequency of elections in Taiwan has hampered government operations.

Politicians, in order to be victorious in elections, refrain from implementing policies that benefit the majority of the population because they are afraid of losing the votes of the minority, he said.

For the sake of winning elections, all important policies will have to be set aside despite the harm such inaction will do to the country's long-term development.

The departing minister described the high frequency of elections as a “disaster for the nation.”

He said he would launch a campaign to hold a referendum on reducing the frequency of elections.

His statement mentioned nothing about the NHI reform he had been working on, but instead vehemently talked about politics — something that the minister, as a medical practitioner who made his debut in government work just a few months ago — is definitely not good at.

His proposal for raising premiums to improve the finances of the near-bankrupt NHI program should be an issue that could be debated rationally. He might as well call for a referendum on his proposal.

Yaung believes that the proposed hikes, which would affect 41 percent of the people, are based on his professional judgment.

But it contradicts Premier Wu Den-yih's promise that the hikes would not affect more than 25 percent of the people.

Yaung apparently feels that he will not be able to win support from Wu.

So instead of calling attention to the NHI issue itself, he has diverted the focus to some wider, perennial, obvious and underlying problems. His warning is an indictment of President Ma Ying-jeou's administration that Yaung is determined to leave, as well as a populist game that Taiwan politicians have been eagerly playing.

The politics-mad Taiwan seems to have elections every year. That is what Yaung believes and what he is trying to change through a referendum — to consolidate the elections so that they will be held only every two years.

But in fact, that is not the case. The upcoming crucial elections in the five special municipalities will be held at the end this year, and the next election the country will see is the presidential race in 2012.

The real problem is not the frequency of the elections, but rather how politicians cannot operate beyond an “election mentality.”

They are always working in “campaign” mode. Look at how President Ma stumped for the Kuomintang's candidates in last month's legislative by-elections as if the races were a matter of life and death for the ruling party and his administration.

The fact is that only four seats were up for grabs and they would not make much difference in the Legislature's balance of power: the KMT still has the vast majority despite losing three of the four seats.

But Ma and the KMT were anxious to win all of the seats, as the by-elections were hyped as a warm-up to the year-end contests and 2012 races. It was said that losing the elections would mean further proof of Ma's decline and jeopardize his reelection bid.

While it is true that the KMT's losses in last month's elections have attested to the president's decline, Ma has been taking the wrong approach to boosting his popularity.

He should have improved his governance, which would have let the KMT win the elections and boosted his reelection bid. But instead he has focused his efforts on elections while ignoring what the nation really needs.

Premier Wu is trying to make Yaung stay on. But the frustrated health minister seems determined to go, having issued such a strong warning.

The premier would have to accept Yaung's proposed hikes for the NHI premiums, which would exceed the limits that Wu has promised. It would not be good for the KMT's election campaigns.

If Yaung goes, Wu will definitely have to find a replacement. It will not matter who that may be, as all he or she will need to do is rubber-stamp the premier's election-conscious policies.