Any evaluation of People First Party chief James Soong (
Soong was secretary to the late president Chiang Ching-kuo (
Years later, after Soong had to step down as KMT secretary-general to take responsibility for the party's poor election showing, Lee appointed him Taiwan provincial governor despite widespread criticism of the move. But the two men later had a much-publicized falling out after Lee began to push for a downsizing of the provincial government. Soong, who had seen the job as a stepping stone to the greater glory of becoming president, was not happy with losing his power base. His refusal to back Lien Chan (
While he was provincial governor, Soong used hundreds of billions of NT dollars in local government subsidies to win the hearts of local politicians and the public. If not for the Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal -- which revealed Soong's embezzlement of a massive amount of KMT funds -- he could very well have won last year's presidential election. After the election, Soong set up the PFP and allied with the KMT and New Party to oppose the DPP. Soong pretended to view Lien as the "big brother" of the opposition alliance -- until PFP vice chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (張昭雄) let the cat out of the bag on Saturday by saying that the "pan-KMT alliance" should be replaced by a "pan-Soong alliance."
Although Chang later apologized for his remarks and Soong denied any plans for a "pan-Soong alliance," efforts at cooperation between the opposition parties have been damaged. Chang's comments revealed Soong's true colors -- his intention to get rid of the KMT and the New Party and build himself an empire. For Soong, the opposition alliance appears to have simply been a way of buying time to consolidate his forces. It has finally dawned on the KMT and the New Party that Soong is not a strategic partner; he's the enemy.
The PFP is basically a Soong one-man show. The New Party has run a series of newspaper advertisements accusing the PFP of trying to create a cult of personality around Soong. In an attempt to deflect the criticism, Soong has accused the New Party of being a ultra-unificationist party, thereby concealing his own "one-China" leanings. More often than not, political movements built around personal cults have resulted in calamity. One only need look at Adolf Hitler's Nazi party, Benito Mussolini's Fascists and Mao Zedong's (毛澤東) Chinese Communist Party. Such cults smother a society's capacity for soul-searching. They also jeopardize the workings of checks and balances. That is why many societies have opted for democratic systems -- despite their faults -- over one-man rule and authoritarianism.
The opposition alliance is now attempting some heavy damage control to prevent Chang's remarks and their aftermath from sinking it before the year-end election. The question for the KMT and New Party is: How long can they tread water before the unwieldy and unbelievable alliance drags them under? The question for the people of Taiwan is whether they are really willing to settle for a return of the one-man show.
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As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry