Ma's New Cabinet Goes into Action

China Times opinion polls showed a 48% level of support for Wu's appointment as premier, and 65% for Chu's vice-premiership. Approval ratings for the Ma administration as a whole rose 10 percentage points to about 40%, and 53% expressed faith in the future of the administration, providing evidence of a recovery from the political turmoil that followed Typhoon Morakot.

The reshuffle was very broad, including the secretaries of the Office of the President and Executive Yuan, the heads of the Council of Indigenous Peoples and the Council for Economic Planning and Development, and the ministers of the interior, foreign affairs, national defense, education, and economic affairs. Chair of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Jiang Yi-huah was appointed minister of the interior and Wu Ching-ji, head of the Bureau of Education under Ma's mayoralty of Taipei City and deputy mayor of Taipei under current mayor Hau Lung-pin, became minister of education, appointments that showed the Ma administration's skill with personnel and drew the attention of the public.

Instinct for self-preservation

Well spoken and sporting a haircut as sober as his sensibilities, new premier Wu Den-yih is most well known for his article "The Crucifix of NTU Students," written in his sophomore year as a student of history at National Taiwan University. In his article, Wu criticized the students of NTU as being "selfish, incapable, and full of depravity," catching the attention of then-minister of defense Chiang Ching-kuo, who even summoned Wu to congratulate him for his article.

After graduating and spending time as a reporter and chief writer for the China Times, Wu soon made his move into politics, being elected for the first of two terms as a Taipei City councilor at age 25, elected for another two terms as Nantou County magistrate at 33, and appointed mayor of Kaohsiung at age 42 before becoming the first popularly elected holder of that same post. Who could have guessed that during his campaign for a third term as Kaohsiung mayor, a trumped-up scandal over a recording would see him lose the race to the DPP candidate Frank Hsieh? After spending a time under the radar following this, he reemerged as a candidate for the legislature.

In 2007, Wu became general secretary of the Kuomintang and was instrumental in helping the KMT reclaim power in three major elections.

Despite his reputation as a political old hand and "conqueror" of elections, Wu is not your traditional politician. He is known as being somewhat of a lone wolf-when the Kuomintang was facing the possibility of fracture during the Lee Teng-hui years, Wu refused to take sides, earning him the resentment of those in power. Additionally, in a recent interview, he said he wouldn't be tempted by money because he "thought more of [himself] than that." His political temperament has made itself known through his eloquence, mental agility, proactiveness, and decisiveness.

Meanwhile Eric Chu, NTU associate professor of finance turned Taoyuan County mayor, is at 48 markedly younger than both President Ma and Premier Wu. Since his entry into politics, he has stood out as something of a celebrity and one of the rising stars of the Kuomintang, as well illustrated by his rising to the number-two spot in the cabinet after only 11 years in politics.

Born of the fires of public opinion, the Wu-Chu cabinet immediately showed its newfound willingness to listen to the public, leading ministers south to Kaohsiung to consult with disaster victims, eating and sleeping alongside them and giving them a sense that the government respects and cares about them.

From ideas to people

Liu's cabinet was regarded by many as too academic and technocratic, but also more concerned with simply getting things done rather than making a show of it. Thanks to this, they were able to make significant breakthroughs in areas such as opening up transit links, trade, and diplomatic contacts between Taiwan and China; however, their domestic policies were overly intricate and borderline unfathomable. Taiwan was a leader in taking action against the financial crisis by being the first to announce protections on savings, issuing consumer vouchers, stimulating employment, and opening up trade with China, but despite praise from international media for this, Liu, a man of few words, couldn't shake poor opinion polls and a reputation for being "distant." Eventually, and regrettably, this led to Liu's resignation.

To shake the low-key, low-polling image of his predecessor, upon taking office Wu rolled out his idea of the "people's economy." While economic indicators like GDP are important, Wu believes that the stock market, restaurants, air shipping, and even the trucks running goods up and down the island's highways have more relevance to the life of the ordinary citizen and give a better indication of the true health of the economy. Several government departments announced that the people will see economic achievements that they can "understand and feel," earning the good will of the populace.

Across East Asia, political change is in the offing; in August, the left-wing Democratic Party of Japan crushed its opposition, ousting the Liberal Democratic Party for the first time in half a century; in South Korea, President Lee Myung Bak recently announced a major cabinet reshuffle, bringing in the reform-minded economist and president of Seoul National University Chung Un Chan as prime minister. From this it is clear that in the face of massive change around the world and people's desire for capable leaders, the demands on politicians are only getting more and more severe. Reshuffling the cabinet is only the beginning; trying to remain professional and follow public opinion, trying to create long-term political stability, must be the focus of the cabinet, the media, and the people of Taiwan as we move ahead.