A nationwide
directive targeting the Falun Gong backfires, and the government’s explanation
shows that the administration believes we are all imbeciles
One
characteristic of the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration
that has manifested itself time and again is its tendency to issue a directive,
assess the public reaction and, if the latter is negative and it becomes
apparent that the government won’t be able to get away with it, attribute the
matter entirely to “administrative errors” or “junior” officials. By doing so,
the government itself is never to blame for bad policies, and senior officials
— President Ma himself — never have to face the consequences.
The latest
incident (the whole wiretap mess aside) involves the Tourism Bureau, which on
September 26 issues a directive to local governments nationwide to help remove
the placards, banners and posters of the Falun Gong spiritual movement that
have sprouted at the main tourist attractions where Chinese tourists tend to
flock, such as Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei and the Chikan Tower in
Tainan. According to the directive, the signs — which usually contain pictures
of past and present Chinese officials accused of crimes against followers of
the movement, as well as bloody images of the victims of such repression — are
“unsightly” and undermine “Taiwan’s international image.” The bureau allegedly
took action after receiving complaints from individuals who are unnamed, but
whose political stance (or origin) we can easily guess.
As should be
expected in a democracy, the Falun Gong, along with representatives of human
rights organizations and legislators, pointed out that the directive was an
affront to Taiwan’s democracy and individuals’ freedom of expression. With a
small dose of hyperbole, National Taiwan University professor Chang Chin-hwa (張錦華) went as far as to call the measure
“fascist.”
Facing the
backlash, the Tourism Bureau adopted the Ma administration’s usual formula,
explaining that the directive was a mistake by a “rookie official” who had been
on the job for a little more than a month. A revised directive would be issued
within a week, it said.
This was
straight out of the Ma administration playbook: A new policy, this one
evidently intended to please the tourism industry as well as the Chinese by
removing an inconvenient reminder of CCP repression, backfired, and once it
attracted criticism, the whole thing was blamed on a low-ranking scapegoat. And
as always, the government hopes that the public will swallow its facile
explanations and forgive it the administrative error. Unfortunately for Ma and
his friends, people are less and less inclined to believe what it says,
especially when the government obviously takes the public for idiots.
Are we really to
believe that a rookie official, with less than two months experience at the
bureau, had the power, the permission, and the ability to issue a nationwide
directive to local governments, one that has repercussions both in terms of
politics and freedom of speech? Really? Anyone who has worked in government
knows the extent to which the system is weighed down by red tape, forms, and
endless chains of approval before anything can happen. This writer experienced
this firsthand when he worked for the Canadian government: Even three years
into the job, he still required the approval of his immediate supervisor in
writing before he could order coffee and donuts for the next day’s meetings
with FBI officials, let alone before interacting with municipal or provincial
governments.
And yet we are supposed
to accept the story that a rookie was capable of singlehandedly issuing a binding
directive to governments round the nation, something that clearly requires the
approval of senior officials not only within the bureau — which has turned into
one of Beijing’s favorite prostitutes in Taiwan — but quite possibly above it
as well.
This government has
once again demonstrated its contempt for the public, which it evidently takes
for imbeciles. (Photo by the author, Anping Fort, Tainan)
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