Su and Chen's Overbearing Bureaucratic Air: Where is the Humility？
United Daily News Editorial, August 20,2020
The authority and arrogance of Tsai administration officials are becoming increasingly more unbearable, yet they seem to be unaware of this situation. Yesterday, the Premier Su Tseng-chang criticized local councilors who questioned the authenticity of certain Triple Stimulus Vouchers of being trouble makers, and said that they should be prosecuted under the "Social Order Maintenance Act.” On that same day, the Public Health Bureau of Changhua County discovered that a teenager returning from the United States tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19). This upset Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who said that this violated the principle of not testing those with no symptoms and requested the ethics department of the MOHW to investigate into this action.
Premier Su has always been authoritative and bureaucratic. He feels that the policies he promotes cannot be questioned by others and has always faced criticism with indifference and a sharp mouth. Under his example, more and more government officials have also become arrogant, believing that only making excuses insistently can show their power, and that accepting criticism would be a sign of weakness. Over time, even Minister Chen, who originally had an image of being calm and fair, has also been influenced by Su. Not only did he refuse to accept suggestions from public health scholars, urging him to expand testing, he also puts on a face to local officials that his authority as head of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) is not to be challenged. Has President Tsai realized that the image and characteristics of her government are drastically spiraling downwards?
Premier Su and Minister Chen's pompous acts, to put it bluntly, is just a tactic to use their power to fend off and suppress criticism or differing opinions when they feel angry. To investigate this matter more deeply, suppose we put their authority and the facts that have been questioned on a scale, and to have the ordinary people make judgement, most people would choose to stand on the side of the truth, and would not support the unreasonable and overbearing authority. The reason is simple: once power takes away the discussion of the truth, it deprives the people the right to know, which then makes it impossible to serve the people in an honest and open way.
Let's talk about the controversy regarding the fake Triple Stimulus Vouchers. Two Tainan city councilors who were prosecuted claimed that "fake vouchers" have appeared on the market. The information was based on what they heard from the public. Even if this happened before the merchant exchanged the vouchers with the bank, it cannot be ruled out that maybe the merchant identified the fake vouchers after receiving the vouchers. Not to mention, elected representatives’ jobs are to reflect the public opinion and constantly remind the government. Premier Su regarding it as "spreading rumors" and "creating chaos", shows that he is very small minded. As the Premier, if he can't tolerate any different voices, this will really turn the government into the plight of being ruled by the voice of one man alone.
Furthermore, Yunlin recently cracked down on factories that were making fake Triple Stimulus Vouchers. Whether there are even more forgery groups remains unknown. From this, it shows that the warnings given by the two Tainan City Councilors were not baseless, or pure nonsense. It simply was Premier Su refusing to hear the voices that challenge his policies. The most controversial thing is that Su not only ignored the local councilors, but also accused them of "spreading rumors" and "attempting to disturb the hearts of the people," and are having them prosecuted under "Social Law". Those in power who profess to "pursue democracy and progress" are now abusing the law to deal with the opposition party and the city councilors of the opposition party. Let’s wait and see what the Tainan District Procuratorate will frame a case against those city councilors.
We then investigate the incident in which the Changhua Health Bureau found a teenager confirmed with coronavirus. The teenager returned to Taiwan from the United States and was examined by the Changhua Health Bureau ten days after his home quarantine, and was found to be tested positive. If local health bureaus detect cases, the CECC should praise them, right? However, Minister Chen insists on believing that the teenager has no symptoms, and in accordance to the regulations, the Health Bureau should not have examined him. He even thinks that the Health Bureau had deliberately violated the regulations and asked the ethics department to investigate. In other words, the local health bureau materialized deployment in advance, but Chen instead wants to punish them. What is the reasoning behind this? Did the Changhua Health Bureau expose the truth that Chen did not want to face?
In the past month, there have been numerous cases where many foreigners living in Taiwan have been diagnosed for coronavirus in other countries after leaving Taiwan. This has greatly questioned the rigor and authenticity of Taiwan's quarantine, and the CECC has lost face. Not long ago, a Belgian engineer was confirmed to have contracted coronavirus after spending his own money to take a test before leaving Taiwan. Since his working place is located at a wind power base off shore Changhua, the Changhua Public Health Bureau has been particularly vigilant about this and actively conducted inspections of home quarantine individuals. From any angle, civil servants being very proactive is something that deserves encouragement. However, in the eyes of government officials, they should be punished instead. So, what are the standards for ethics, justice, and transparency that the Tsai administration supposedly promotes?
President Tsai chanted "humility, humility, even more humility” when she assumed office. But more than four years later, this is rarely ever mentioned again by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. What has been replaced now is a flamboyant, arrogant, and domineering ruling style. Tsai should pay attention to this phenomenon. Oppressive officials might be necessary evil, but when they do not control their use of power and are not humble and open to exploring the truth, the malignant tumor of democracy arises.