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Editorial: Going around in circles

Just when we think that the KMT may finally be getting smart, it proves once again that despite all the talk of a "new and improved" party, the harsh reality is that it's just politics as usual. The KMT has used its legislative majority to put off the Legislative Yuan's review of the bill for the "Corruption Bureau Organizational Law" for the seventh time. Unbelievable!

The KMT is the last party that should ever do anything that would have the slightest implication, the merest whiff, of hindering efforts to crack down on corruption. Surveys have repeatedly indicated that people continue to perceive the KMT as the party with the most "black gold" connections. Most people would agree that other than the split in the KMT caused by James Soong's (宋楚瑜) refusal to play No. 2 to Lien Chan (連戰) in last year's presidential election, the KMT's humiliating defeat in that election was due to the widespread perception that the party is enmeshed in a spider's web of black gold connections.

Even the KMT's own deputy secretary-general, Jason Hu (胡志強), recently felt the need to publicly state that if the party is to win back the presidency, or even maintain its legislative majority, it must sever all association or "apparent" association with corruption.

Despite strong criticism of the performance of the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration, its crackdown on black gold has managed to win brownie points for the president, making Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) one of the most highly regarded members of the Cabinet. This just goes to show the weight and importance that people give to eliminating corruption.

Even an imbecile knows that corruption is an especially sensitive topic now, with growing public concern over the rapidly snowballing scandal over the Jin-Wen Institute of Technology (景文技術學院). To make the KMT look even worse, many government officials implicated in this scandal were officials of the former KMT government, including former vice minister of education Lin Chao-hsien (林昭賢) -- who was demoted by Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗) -- and former minister without portfolio Chang Yu-hui (張有惠) -- who recently resigned his post as a result of involvement in the scandal. Lin openly campaigned for Lien during last year's election, while Chang is known for his strong ties to former KMT premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長).

As if the timing weren't already sensitive enough, a recent report from the US Trade Representative's Office ranked corruption as a trade barrier with Taiwan for the first time, severely tarnishing the nation's image when it is desperately trying to attract foreign investors. A further blow was delivered by a recent media survey on corruption-free countries in Asia -- Taiwan trailed behind Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong. Against this backdrop, it is hard to understand how the KMT had the audacity to exclude legislative review of the proposed corruption bureau law.

Yes, maybe we did laugh at first at the KMT's pledge to reform itself right after the election. A little while later, after the snickering had died down, we saw Lien's TV ads, telling us that "The KMT has to make a good showing so that the hard times can pass" and we began to think that perhaps, just perhaps, the KMT really was going to change. When Lawrence Hu (胡忠信), author of the Chen biography Son of Taiwan, spoke at KMT headquarters recently and suggested that the party should sweep out all its connections with black gold, we thought maybe the KMT will truly reform.

But by its actions in the Legislative Yuan, the party has, in one fell swoop, damaged all the good it had accomplished through its reform efforts over the past year. More and more the party resembles a dog running around and around in circles chasing its tail, barking madly all the while -- apparently convinced that a lot of noise will disguise the fact that it will never achieve its goal.
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