WHEN he was first elected in 2008, Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, offered
Taiwanese high hopes that the island’s economy would open a new chapter. He
promised ground-breaking agreements with China to help end Taiwan’s growing
economic marginalisation. At the time, Mr Ma’s image was of a clean
technocrat able to rise above the cronyism and infighting of his party, the
Kuomintang (KMT). He was a welcome contrast to his fiery and pro-independence
predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, now in jail for corruption.
2008年他首次擔任台灣總統，就被台灣人寄予厚望，希望台灣的經濟能開啟新的篇章。
他簽訂突破性的經濟協議，希望中國能幫助台灣日益嚴重的經濟邊緣化。
馬英九的形象是不沾鍋，但國民黨（KMT）的任人唯親和內訌與他產生強烈的對比。
前任救援投手扁維拉，現在在土城當王。
Five years on, and despite being handily re-elected ten months ago, much has
changed. In particular, popular satisfaction with Mr Ma has plummeted, to a
record low of 13%, according to the TVBS Poll Centre. The country appears to
agree on one thing: Mr Ma is an ineffectual bumbler.
在這五年內，他輕易地在2012年取得689萬票勝選連任，但當選的10個月後，變化太大了。
特別是，馬英九的滿意度大幅下降，達到創紀錄的低13％。
根據的TVBS投票中心，顯示台灣人民同意一件事：馬先生是無能的白痴。
Ordinary people do not find their livelihoods improving. Salaries have
stagnated for a decade. The most visible impact of more open ties with China,
which include a free-trade agreement, has been property speculation in
anticipation of a flood of mainland money. Housing in former working-class
areas on the edge of Taipei, the capital, now costs up to 40 times the
average annual wage of $15,400. The number of families below the poverty line
has leapt. Labour activists have taken to pelting the presidential office
with eggs.
大意在講老百姓沒有找到改善他們生計的方法。薪金已經停滯了十年。
最明顯的影響是更加開放與中國的關係，其中包括自由貿易協定(ECFA)。
早就被預料中國的熱錢不斷湧來，不停炒樓讓房價居高不下。
在貧困線以下的家庭數已經快速增加，不滿的勞工們投雞蛋到總統府前抗議。
Exports account for 70% of GDP. So some of Taiwan’s problems are down to the
dismal state of rich-world economies. Yet Mr Ma’s leadership is also to
blame. He has failed to paint a more hopeful future, with sometimes hard
measures needed now. Worse, he frequently tweaks policies in response to
opposition or media criticism. It suggests indecisiveness.
台灣的出口佔GDP的70%，一些台灣的經濟問題是歸因於富裕已開發國家的經濟衰敗。
然而，馬英九的領導也難辭其咎。
他沒有規劃一個更有希望的未來，更糟糕的是，他頻繁地調整政策，
反對或媒體的批評，這表明他優柔寡斷，沒有Guts。
Public anger first arose in June, when Mr Ma raised the price of
government-subsidised electricity. Few Taiwanese understood why, even though
Taiwan’s state-owned power company loses billions. In the face of public
outrage, Mr Ma postponed a second round of electricity price rises scheduled
for December. They will now take place later next year.
民眾的憤怒出現在六月，馬政府提出政府補貼電力的政策，讓台電公司損失數十億美元。
因此展開電價漲價的政策。
在面對民眾的憤怒不滿，馬主席將暫緩定於12月的第二輪電價上漲。
將在明年晚些時候才開始調漲。
People are also worried that a national pension scheme is on course for
bankruptcy in less than two decades. Yet Mr Ma cannot bring himself to raise
premiums sharply, because of the temporary unpopularity it risks. When Mr Ma
does try to appeal to Taiwanese who make up the island’s broad political
centre, it often backfires with his party’s core supporters. Following
public grumbles that retired civil servants, teachers and ex-servicemen were
a privileged group, the cabinet announced plans to cut more than $300m in
year-end bonuses, affecting around 381,000. The trouble was, veterans are
among the KMT’s most fervent backers. Now some threaten to take to the
streets in protest and deprive the KMT of their votes until the plan is
scrapped. Meanwhile, Mr Ma’s clean image has been sullied by the indictment
of the cabinet secretary-general for graft.
台灣人們還擔心，一個國家的退休金制度將在不到二十年的破產。
他的黨的核心支持者(鐵票部隊)是台灣島上的廣泛的政治中心。
老百姓抱怨說，退休公務員、教師和退伍軍人是一個特權集團。
接著內閣陳揆宣布計劃削減超過30億美元的軍公教年終慰問金，約381,000人受影響。
麻煩的是，退伍軍人是國民黨的最狂熱的支持者。
現在，這些不滿的軍公教退休人員上街頭去抗議，並剝奪了國民黨的選票。
會抗議直到該計劃取消。
同時，馬英九的清潔形象已被林益世的貪污形象給玷汙。
Cracks are starting to grow in the KMT fa譃ade. Recently Sean Lien, a
prominent politician, criticised Mr Ma’s economic policies, saying that any
politician in office during this time of sluggish growth was at best a “
master of a beggar clan”—implying a country of paupers.
在國民黨內外裂縫開始增長。
連公子批評馬主席批評馬英九的經濟政策，
他說:經濟不好，選上也是丐幫幫主。
But the next election is four years away, and presidential hopefuls will not
try to oust or even outshine Mr Ma anytime soon. After all, they will not
want to take responsibility for the country’s economic problems. Nothing
suggests Mr Ma’s main policies will change (or that they should), but his
credibility is draining by the day.
