Compromises needed
Democracy and politics in Taiwan mix uneasily. The historical and conceptual essence of democracy is compromise. Politicians in Taiwan are rigid and immerse themselves in confrontation and conflict.
Compromise requires that you settle for less than you want, that you give some and get some and that you work cooperatively with those with whom you disagree. Politicians in Taiwan are more likely to try to get everything they want, to become angry and abusive when they don't get it and to disrupt and obstruct political processes out of anger and frustration.
Democracy in the West started over 2,000 years ago. Democracy in the US is the outcome of a long, difficult process of trial and error. Politics in Taiwan has now entered a similar process. Politicians in Taiwan need to study the habits and attitudes of politicians in working democracies. They need to understand how democracies work, to spend less time worrying about how to get total power and satisfaction and spend more time figuring out how compromise makes peaceful, constructive government possible.
The citizens and politicians of Taiwan are trying to do something that has never been done successfully in Asia. They are trying to build a democracy. They need to study how democracies succeed and to understand compromise.
David Cornberg
Taipei
DPP characterized unfairly
I?am very disappointed with your article about attendance in the Legislative Yuan ("Lawmakers skip meeting to campaign for elections," Oct. 17, page 2), not because this is not a serious issue, but because it pins all the blame on the DPP caucus.
Even with no other information than that provided in your article, a reader can see that this is clearly unfair. You state that only 17 out of 66 DPP members were present, a rate of 26 percent, which is certainly much too low.
You also mention in passing, however, that only 60 lawmakers in total attended the session in question. Since this is 27 percent of the body's total membership, obviously "playing hooky" is not a problem unique to the DPP.
Unfortunately, the opposite impression is given by the tone and sub-headline of your article, as well as the hypocritical quotes from other party representatives?(one would very much like to know just what the ratios were for the KMT and PFP).
I realize that the pro-unification local Chinese-language media also printed this story in an equally biased way, but since when has the Taipei Times followed their editorial lead? At this crucial moment in Taiwan's political development, I would hope that the Taipei Times could hold itself to the higher standard of objectivity that it has adopted in the past.
Hsu Chia-ching
Taipei
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