Lee Byung-Chull, the late founder of the South Korean conglomerate, Samsung Group, wrote in his biography: "Two Koreans can form three political parties." He was referring to the disunity among Koreans, as well as to their extreme and flighty character.
There have been similar comments about the Chinese too, the most famous being Sun Yat-sen's (孫中山) remark during the revolution against the Ching dynasty -- that the Chinese are like "a mass of loose sand" (一盤散沙).
At a time when revolution necessitated centralized leadership and control, "unity" was the authorities' foremost demand upon the populace. Loyalty to the state was a sacred duty. In our time of democratization and globilization, however, centralized leadership defers to pluralism. No one cares whether the populace is united; no one cares whether the people want to become a plate of loose sand. Authorities have no control over how many political parties are formed. The myriad factions within political parties and sub-factions within those factions no longer come as surprises to anyone.
In this respect, the travails of Chen Shui-bian's
Many people have been left dazed and confused by these spats. Even the communist cadres across the Taiwan Strait cannot stand all the shenanigans and have refused to play ball with Taiwan for the time being (Beijing is not in a hurry to resume dialogue with Taiwan, according to news reports). Are these developments worthy of praise?
Politics in Taiwan has been pluralized to the extent of perplexity -- no one knows what to make of them. This in a way is an asset for us because "no policy is the best policy." This is exactly the key to Taiwan's survival.
What's more, although the traffic lights of Taiwan politics are broken, we are still progressing slowly, snaking our way through the snarling congestion -- demonstrating Taiwan's essential, world-famous "motor scooter culture." If this were South Korea, the traffic would remain stuck at intersections for at least two hours. The beauty of Taiwan society is that the Taiwanese can stay elastic in their wishy-washiness and maintain some kind of order amid the chaos.
The long decades of colonial rule taught the Taiwanese a useful philosophy for dealing with the world -- to make the best of a bad bargain. Fifty years of sufferings and frustrations have endowed our society with a strong capacity for self-healing. No matter how precipitously domestic politics has slid, no matter how isolated Taiwan has become in the international community, its people can adapt. This is also a reason why the Taiwanese cannot be so easily fooled no matter what flowery rhetoric they hear from their politicians.
In fact, Taiwan's pluralistic society is an epitome of a "globalized" society as described by Thomas Friedman. In an era of globalization and democratization, the people will no longer acquiesce to authoritarian leadership and strongman rule. How long will it take for Beijing's cadres to learn how to deal with this new Taiwan, with its "order amid chaos" and "policy without a policy?" If the Chinese are still at a loss, then they will perhaps do well to leave Taiwan alone and work instead to tidy up their own economy.
Rich Chu is associate editor-in-chief of the Taipei Times.
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