President Chen Shui-bian's (
With such a legal foundation, the commission would be able to recount the votes at an early date, eliminating the need for a time-consuming judicial process. Such a move could help not only bring an end to the pan-blue-camp protests, but also eliminate the possibility of the problem reoccuring.
As for the other pan-blue complaints -- such as the questions about the timing of the shooting of Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (
Opposition politicians should stop trying to foment unrest by spreading rumor and innuendo and stirring the already intense emotions of the crowds that have protested in front of the Presidential Office since Saturday. They should be willing to resort to legal means to resolve their complaints. Otherwise, pan-green supporters may also demand a recount of ballots and file suit to annul the results if they were to lose the next election. Such actions would turn every presidential election into a farce and lead to serious political instability. This can surely not be the true purpose of turning Taiwan into a democracy.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
If people demonstrate without the government's permission they are violating the law. Such illegal behavior cannot be legalized days later by the organizers asking for permission. With his legal background, Ma should know better than most that such post facto legitimation violates logic and convention. His actions make it seem as if he places the interests of the KMT before the dignity of the law. He should place his responsibilities as mayor above those of pan-blue alliance campaign manager and end the protest as soon as possible.
The pan-blue demonstrators' demand for a recount, however, is reasonable given the narrow margin of victory. With Chen already having given his consent and the Legislative Yuan having begun negotiations to pass the needed amendment, hopefully a recount procedure can be organized in the next few days.
What is not reasonable is the demand by KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
That the pan-blues should feel comfortable trying to return Taiwan to martial law should come as no surprise. It should also be no surprise that Chen and other members of the Democratic Progressive Party, who spent a large part of their lives fighting the KMT's autocratic rule, are not willing to see a return to such tactics and want the rule of law to prevail.
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
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