Ma Ying Jiu and Taiwan’s future : Thoughts from Israeli politics

Through TaiwanTony, I found out about the English CNN interview with Ma Ying Jiu in “Talk Asia”. It’s the easiest most sympathetic interview Ma could have hoped for and although it was a bit shallow, if not naive, it was still very interesting to watch.

At the beginning Ma seemed held-back and shy, which keeps surprising me. At times, like at the Tainan KMT rally I went to, Ma seemed almost uncomfortable with the attention. But there’s no doubt that Ma looks great on the TV screen, shy or not, nervous or not, and that CNN report and interview showed Taiwan in a very positive light.

Related or unrelated to the interview, from my Israeli experience and my personal perspective on both Israeli and Taiwanese politics, I’d like to over-simplify and say that…

1. I believe setting economic goals and focusing on quality of life in an unsolvable political situation is not a bad idea, if it’s done the right way with enough sensitivity. Israel and Taiwan are so preoccupied with regional politics that education, environment and economics are pushed down the priority ladder. Bringing those back to a higher priority is a worthy goal.
2. Stability is key. In the past 5 terms, Israel hasn’t been able to keep a prime minister in office for more than 2-3 years. Rabin was assassinated, Barak was thrown out after Camp David, followed by Netanyahu who fought with everyone and was made to leave, Ariel Sharon had a deadly struck and now Olmert is going through an embarrassing corruption fiasco there’s no way he’ll survive. This has done little to upset the Israeli economy, which keeps growing at an unbelievable rate, and Israeli democracy keeps running strong where other countries might have given up, but imagine what the Israeli economy, education and infrastructure would have been like if Israel did have a prime minister who would know he really has 4 years to do what he was set to do. Whether you agree with Chen Shui Bian or Ma Ying Jiu, the fact that they have the time to follow on their agenda is a good thing, and although Ma and the rest of the KMT might need to work out how they work together best, having one party running things in both presidency and the elective yuan means stability instead of endless power struggles. You don’t like their policy? that’s okay, then you have 4 years to prepare for the next round, but at least you’d know you will be able to follow your own 4 years through if you win.
3. You can’t judge a president after 2 months, not even after 6 months, as much as you can’t attribute success after such a short period of time. Direct flights to China were planned either way, and the souring petrol prices were going to happen no matter what policy either presidential candidate was going to implement.

Learning world politics of other countries might make you see more of the bigger picture. Taiwan, although facing difficult challenges, is looking better by the day, at least to me. I wish Olmert, or any Israeli prime minister, would someday be able to have such a positive interview with such positive prospects. Whether the current KMT policy will work out or not remains to be seen, but atleast something is happening, people voted for what they believed in and they expect and demand change. With the next elections in Israel, I don’t think there any candidate who I strongly believe in. On the contrary, I truly dislike them all. And I must say - it’s not a good sign when people grow tired of politics, especially in such a sensitive situation. Thankfully, I believe this hasn’t happened in Taiwan yet.