Print

Mail

wiki links

Campaign becoming a very risky poker game

Have you ever played showhand (梭哈)?

The rules for this famous poker game are very simple: when someone places a bet, the other players only have four choices -- see, raise, fold or show their hands.

Unfortunately, the presidential election battle between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance is just like a game of showhand.

Those who play showhand rely not only on their skill, luck, courage and concentration, but also on their ability to bluff. Even if you are dealt a bad hand, you might still see or raise a bet, or even bet all your chips at once. You take a risk by doing so, but others with less capital might be intimidated into folding.

An election is not a gamble, and a campaign should not become a game of showhand. But suddenly every politician in Taiwan has decided to become a gambler.

At the beginning of the game the politicians' stakes were not terribly high, as they only bet on farmers' subsidies, labor pensions and a pay raise for police.

But the stakes have become greater and greater, as now they bet on issues as important to the country as a referendum law and a new constitution.

When President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) announced his plans to implement a new constitution by 2008, most people thought that KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) might have to fold his cards. Unexpectedly, the former vice president raised the stakes by proposing a plan that called for a new constitution by 2005.

Lien's purpose in risking everything on a single bet is quite simple: he wants to push Chen to show his cards too.

Nevertheless, the game's original rules were set by Chen. Also, Chen has a gambler's personality and has more chips than Lien. If Lien thinks that he can beat Chen by bluffing him, he is underestimating his opponent. Sadly, it seems that the election battle will be fought on the field that Chen has marked out.

The constitutional question is a legitimate issue for debate during an election campaign. But for most Taiwanese voters, it is metaphysical and unrelated to daily issues that they care about most, such as food, clothes, housing, transportation, education and entertainment.

It is unfair and immoral for politicians to ask voters to make a decision on a metaphysical question like this one, and to be the judge of who should win this battle.

An election should be related to reality and to the concerns of the majority of people. But that is not the case in this presidential election, as all the topics being discussed revolve around political parties and politicians.

If the ruling camp wants to wage an election battle like this, the opposition camp should do exactly the opposite. The media and the public should also condemn politicians who are leaning in this direction.

But Taiwan is hypnotized; the nation only cares about one issue, and only one voice has been heard.

Chen is like the pied piper in Grimm's Fairy Tales. At first, only people from the green camp followed him. But Lien and his supporters have joined the procession, and Chen's pipe is playing more and more loudly.

Thus, like the hypnotized rats and children in the story, the Taiwanese people have been hypnotized, following the piper toward an unknown future.

Wang Chien-chuang is the president of The Journalist magazine.

TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
This story has been viewed 2858 times.