The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday, which ended Feb. 21, should have been a time for people to rest completely from their work over the past year and for individuals, enterprises, politicians and parties to engage in self-reflection and planning for the new year. In 2009, the world experienced the worst recession in years, which was brought about by a financial crisis. We think it is time for a reversal of misfortune. However, that depends on not just on opportunities but also on wisdom and hard work. From that perspective, we do not expect the Ma Ying-jeou government to achieve a reversal of misfortune, judging from its failed performance last year. It is worrisome that the government failed to boost industrial development or to lower the unemployment rate. We see Taiwan as trapped in a crisis of 'pseudo recovery, ' with people being misled into thinking that the recession has bottomed out. In fact, the country is facing an even bigger crisis -- that of the ruling party masking the pseudo recovery with its theory of a 'V-type' economic recovery, in an attempt to cover its incompetence. We think President Ma Ying-joeu is the first person who should have stayed home during the Lunar New Year holiday to review his mistakes. The president has failed completely to deliver on any aspect of his '633' plan to achieve an annual economic growth of 6 percent, per capital income of US$30,000, and an unemployment rate of less than 3 percent by 2012. It was sad to see Ma busy campaigning for Kuomintang (KMT) legislative by- election candidates during the new year holiday, rather than staying at home to engage in self-reflection. Since he took office in 2008, his public approval rating has plunged from over 70 percent to some 20 percent, reflecting public discontent with his China- tilting policies and incompetence. However, Ma seems to think it's all a problem of poor public relations on the part of his administration. He's convinced that he can win public support for his policies, including the controversial economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, once his administration holds as many press conferences as possible to explain the details. However, we do not think the government can force people to accept whatever they are being offered. If the Ma administration cannot give the people what they want, it should at least let them decide their own future. 