The opposition parties' drive to recall President Chen Shui-bian (
I'm not trying to support the DPP government by opposing the recall. In fact, the ruling party's beautiful slogans -- such as "put Taiwanese people's interests first" (
I don't have any of those beautiful words above to oppose the recall. My reasons for opposing it are simple:
First, to recall the president because of the halting of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (
Second, because of the inequity between the crime and the punishment, if we choose to recall the president, I believe Chen and his supporters will refuse to accept it, which might arouse antagonism and hatred among Taiwan's different clans and will further harm our society.
From ancient times to the present, punishment, especially "political punishment," has always been very difficult to handle. When establishing the US Constitution, delegates to the Constitutional Convention were hesitant to include an article on the impeachment of a president, worrying that such an article might become a tool for political struggle. Not all that long ago, the US Congress failed to impeach President Bill Clinton due to the inequity between his wrongdoings and the heavy punishment.
Indeed, Chen has made many mistakes when dealing with halting the nuclear plant and his credibility is also questionable now. His wrongdoings, however, obviously don't match the punishment of being recalled. Besides, although he has made a lot of mistakes, these errors can be corrected by the legislators. If the Legislative Yuan can pass an energy law authorizing the continuation of construction of the nuclear plant by legal means, Chen will have no choice but to obey the law. Thus, for mistakes that are correctable, we'd be better to correct them instead of punishing the man who made them.
Again, because of the inequity between the crime and the punishment, the political struggle in Taiwan will become more serious if the opposition legislators choose to go ahead with the recall. The distance between the pro and anti-nuclear sides will increase and hatred and violence between them might occur. If this happens, Taiwan will be trapped in chaos.
Although I oppose recalling Chen, it has to be stressed that he, along with the DPP government, needs to be aware of the fact that they have worsened Taiwan's political situation with the dispute over the plant. If Chen can't reflect on the errors of his ways, not even God or the Buddha will not be able to help him the next time he faces a recall.
Nan Fang-shuo is the publisher of The Journalist magazine.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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