Mon, Mar 29, 2004 page8

• Editorial: Do we need a recount or a shrink?

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  President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) speech on Saturday night was one of the best he has ever made, combining exactly the right tone of reason with toughness, gently mocking the more absurd claims of the pan-blue camp and showing an iron determination to stick to the letter of the law and not give in to the mob rule that the pan-blues have tried to whip up in the past week, which culminated in the storming of the Central Election Commission building on Friday night to prevent the election commissioners from fulfilling their legal duty.

  It was interesting that the major criticism of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Alex Tsai after the speech was that it was late in coming. Actually, Chen said nothing Saturday night that the presidential office had not already offered before. A recount, international participation in the shooting investigation: these had been on the table as of midweek, but KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) would not call off the demonstration planned for Saturday because his power in his party depended on the projection of leadership that this would allow.

  That Lien and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) still haven't, at the time this was written, said they would accept the result of a recount is worrying. It shows a level of irresponsible brinkmanship that makes us question their suitability, under any circumstances, to govern.

  But this week has shown something far more upsetting to anyone who cares not just about democratic processes and the rule of law, but also about simple common sense. Everyone involved in this dispute knows how the balloting process in Taiwan is carried out. Everybody should therefore know quite well that it is a model of openness that other democracies would do well to imitate.

  You cannot stuff ballot boxes in Taiwan. The bookkeeping about how many ballot papers are delivered to polling stations, how many are used and how many must be returned is simply too strict. You cannot fraudulently count the vote, since it is carried out in too open a style, and the registration of each ballot is liable to objection from party representatives if there is a hint of partisanship or skullduggery.

  All parties involved in the election know this. All of the pan-greens, all of the pan-blues, everyone. You cannot rig a vote in Taiwan under the present system.

  There is another thing that people should already know, unless their minds have been rotted by too many bad action films. You cannot "shoot to wound" a man in the stomach standing on a moving vehicle. And yet people believe these things.

  Both these events have obvious explanations.

  As to the election, Chen and the Democratic Progressive Party won it by a small number of votes. This happens: that is the way the system works.

  And as to the shooting, some wacko, his mind turned crazy by the endless diet of pan-blue hate propaganda against Chen in the last few weeks -- the analogies with Hitler, bin Laden, Saddam and the like -- decided that Chen simply couldn't be allowed to win, and tried to kill him to prevent it.

  This makes absolute perfect sense. It is a model of events that we can all understand. That does not mean that it is exactly what happened, but it is the most likely chain of events and should do as a working hypothesis for most people, until other evidence comes along. But not for the pan-blues.

  What is disturbing about this is not that an election can be challenged: that is a legal right. Nor that losing an election is frustrating: that is human nature.

  What is truly disturbing is the way that common sense has simply been thrown aside. Sane and rational people have been willing to overlook the obvious and believe the most preposterous things, rather than face the truth. A large number of people in this country are in the grip of hysterical self-delusion.

  Perhaps Taiwan needs psychiatric help.
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