While the entire the world casts its eyes on the US-Iraq war and the SARS outbreak, KMT Legislator Yu Yueh-hsia (游月霞) dropped a bomb of her own on Friday when she called Mainland Affairs Council Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) an "old spinster" during her interpellation of Premier Yu Shyi-kun.
Not only did Yu claim that Tsai's "psychological problems" were to blame for the inability of the two sides of Taiwan Strait to begin direct links, she also adamantly refused to apologize for her breach of conduct after both Yu and the Vice Speaker Chiang Ping-kun (
This incident triggered flashbacks to similar vulgar outbursts by DPP Legislator Lin Chung-mo (
Neither Chen nor Tsai nor the first lady deserved to be treated this way.
In any event, the professional, well-composed, articulate and rational image of Tsai is much more likely to elicit sympathy from the public, especially working women. She has in fact ranked near the top in numerous public opinion polls measuring the performance of government officials.
Under the circumstances, the KMT really should be on guard in its handling of the matter, especially with KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The statement by Lee Chia-chin (
What kind of motive could Yu possible have? Even a two-year-old would know the answer -- to insult and hurt one's intended victim. It is also a disgrace for the KMT to officially disclaim responsibility for the conduct of one its lawmakers, especially when the incident took place while the person was performing her duty as a lawmaker. The behavior of a legislator on the floor is in no way simply a personal affair of the individual lawmaker in question.
Of course, it must be conceded that the DPP's disappointing handling of Lin's outbursts has placed it in an awkward position. While the DPP's Women's Affairs Department did condemn Lin, in the end he received no sanction from either the DPP or from the Legislative Yuan. Any DPP demand now for sanctions against Yu would just sound that much weaker.
At the very least, more than a dozen female DPP lawmakers condemned both Lin last time and Yu this time around. They have proven that when it comes to right and wrong, there is no need to distinguish between parties. In contrast, those PFP and KMT lawmakers who had loudly called for sanctions against Lin have thus far kept quiet. It would have been very encouraging and admirable if they could show the same kind of rage toward Yu as they did with Lin.
All the parties must learn to discipline their own members. While individual lawmakers may be able to get re-elected despite their vulgar behavior so long as their own constituents are okay with it, but there is much more at stake when one takes party integrity into consideration.
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