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Confession is good for the soul and others

People need to confess after every failure -- no matter whether it is an election loss or a misdemeanor in word and deed. Without confession, none of the self-examination, discussion and improvement is real and therefore none of them can be put into practice.

There is no doubt President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) should step down from the chairmanship of the KMT to take responsibility for Lien Chan's (連戰) defeat in the election. However, Lee should not be the one to blame for James Soong's (宋楚瑜) loss.

To be fair, Soong's failure has highlighted the moral and legal issues involved in his financial scandal. If Soong's supporters fail to understand this fact, we can predict his loss again in another four years.

Honestly speaking, Lee has already prolonged the KMT's hold on power. If not for Lee's efforts to localize the KMT, the party would have lost its ruling power a long time ago. However, it was also Lee's failure to break the KMT's ties with gangsters during his second term of presidency that led to the party's recent collapse.

Just think clearly. The KMT did not lose the election because of its "localization," but because its "black-gold" politics (黑金政治). Consequently, the conservative anti-Lee group's desire to recapture power is a big joke, if they think that this will change the fate of the KMT.

The resurrection of the KMT's conservative force can only take the party either in the footsteps of the New Party or turn it into a bubble.

This should not be considered self-examination, simply reactionism instead. This is not about soul-searching, rather it is taking advantage of others. This is not improvement, rather it is a regression. This is not confession, it is mutual destruction.

The true meaning of confession lies in being honest to oneself, utterly honest; it does not mean to be cruel to others and lenient to oneself.

Confession enables the person himself to see the reality and to make a fresh start all over again. A person's confession can touch the hearts of others and increase his popularity among people.

Last week, Pope John Paul II confessed in public, admitting the mistakes the Roman Catholic Church has made over the past 2,000 years. He pleaded for forgiveness from God.

The mistakes included the Crusades, which started in 1095 and created a 1,000-year-long enmity between Catholics and Moslems; the Inquisition that began in 1231, which burned 300,000 people at the stake; the Catholic missionaries' constant infringement of the rights of the Aboriginal groups in America and Africa; the frequent Catholic humiliation of females; and Catholic antagonism to Jews, etc.

Such confession was not required nor was it necessary to do it in public, if the Pope thought like a tyrannous leader who justifies his dictatorship by saying, "Let bygones be bygones." Or, he could easily have excused his religion by saying, "It was the Moslems who first attacked the holy city," "The heretics indeed posed a serious threat to our church," or, "There were in fact some uncivilized or inhuman elements in those backward cultures."

Nonetheless, the Pope conceded these mistakes bravely and honestly. This confession made after 1,000 years demonstrates the truth and energy eminating from the Catholic Church.

For the past 20 centuries, we have rarely heard any confession from the Han Chinese people. No politician or party has ever apologized for the death of millions of Chinese people.

After this election, the reactions from both Lien and Soong camps have been totally disappointing. Can they do nothing more than blame others, provoke riots and evade crucial issues by taking up minor ones?

Pu Ta-chung is the chief editor of the China Times.
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