The Taipei Times criticizes Chen Shui-bian

DPP hasn't fulfilled its promises, Taipei Society report says By Huang Tai-lin

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration has fallen short of its promise to push reforms over the past four years, a group of academics said.

In a paper released over the weekend assessing the government's achievements in pushing reform, the Taipei Society, a group founded in 1989 by scholars from universities and Academia Sinica, called on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his administration to implement reform in order to fulfill the promise of "believing in Taiwan and insisting on reform."

The paper harshly criticized the government for "getting a failing report card" in terms of constitutional, educational and environmental reforms, as well as in the areas of cross-strait economic exchanges, social welfare, media and academic development.

The paper stated that the DPP administration had achieved little in its work in implementing reforms and had blamed opposition parties for its own poor performance in pushing reform.

"Although it is true that the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and the People First Party [PFP] obstruct reform, the government however can not put all the blame on the opposition parties for its own administrative fault and failure," the paper said...

The group also called on the pan-blue alliance to step out from under the cloud of the March 19 assassination attempt, put aside the election conflict and be dutiful in its role as the opposition.

This characterizes the Taipei Society as a "pro-independence group". Is that right? Look at how Tsai Ting-I from the normally pro-Chen etaiwannews.com characterizes them in the first sentence (italics mine):

In a bid to provide a clear picture for the future benefit of the DPP, Taipei Society (澄社), an intellectual organization similar to Britain's Fabian Society, yesterday released an evaluation paper on the DPP's achievements in reform over the past four years. The report warned that the ruling party has slowly moved toward corruption and has become an obstacle to reforms.

"The DPP administration has been approaching 'black gold' politics, which is a wide departure from President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) campaign slogan of 'Believe in Taiwan, Persist in Reform,'" said Taipei Society chairman Hong Yu-hung. It is the opposition's responsibility to oversee the government's performance, he added.

The paper stated that the DPP has achieved little in terms of educational, financial, legislative, social welfare, media, environmental, and juridical reforms, and additionally has attributed its failings to obstruction by the opposition parties over the past four years.

"The failure to implement educational reforms is because of the administration's weak capability for executing policies," the paper stated, adding that most reform measures could be achieved without the opposition parties.

Commenting on the DPP's efforts in respect of media reforms, the paper cited the controversial personnel issue at the state-controlled Chinese Television System, where the manager Chiang Hsia (江霞) is someone who had campaigned for President Chen in the run up to the March election. This is another sign of the DPP's failure to free the media from political influence, the paper noted.

Stressing the ideal of an independent media, the paper suggested that the government introduce new regulations to separate politics and the media, and to promote the establishment of public TV stations.

I wonder if Asia Times online will pick up on any of this, or continue to print Laurence Eyton's unending criticisms of the KMT.

*As for the Fabian Society, according to its own website, "The Fabian Society is the UK's only membership based left of centre think tank." I'm not sure how left/right apply to Taiwan. I mean, if you think of the left as pro-commie, or at least as less anti-commie, then the KMT is leftist--right?