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Editorial: Lien lets the small potatoes fry

During a Tuesday meeting between Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and KMT Vice Chairman and Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), Legislator Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) suggested that "the vice party chairmen, secretary-generals and top-ranking party officials should all step down to show accountability for the election defeat."

Lee's words brought to the surface an issue that had been on the minds of many KMT members since the election -- that someone within the KMT has to shoulder the responsibility for the defeat.

While not many people dare to say aloud the name of the person who more than anyone else should take the responsibility -- KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) -- at least the issue of stepping down as a show of accountability is no longer taboo within the party.

Lien has to be feeling the heat now, although party members continue to call for consolidation of the party leadership and his name was conveniently omitted from all discussions about resignation.

Not only was Lee's statement echoed by other KMT members, but Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), another KMT deputy chairman, also said he is willing to resign as vice chairman. Ma's statement makes him the second vice chairman to indicate a willingness to resign.

If Lien had a shred of integrity left, he would feel the pressure. If all the small potatoes in the party resign, what is his excuse for not resigning? After all, he was the one who was defeated in the election. If he sits idly by as these people take the hit for him, he will lose all respect from others. For Lien to dodge responsibility would be feudal and entirely at odds with democracy's fundamental principles. Unlike in the feudal era, when leaders would never admit their mistakes and sacrifice their supporters to secure power meant virtually nothing, a real leader in any democracy is always the first to take accountability.

It isn't as if Lien has not had his chances. This presidential election marks the third major defeat the KMT has suffered under his leadership, the first being the 2000 presidential election and the second being the last legislative election, in which the KMT lost so many seats that lost its legislative majority and fell behind the Democratic Progressive Party to become the second-largest party in the legislature.

The strange thing is this: Lien always says he is not to blame. In the 2000 election, the problem was the so-called "dump Lien to save Chen" (Shui-bian, 陳水扁) effect and the supposed betrayal of then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). This time, the bullets that injured Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) on election eve were to blame. In the last legislative election, Lien saw no need to bother offering any scapegoats for his party's defeat.

Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that Lien has said that Chen was the "only one to blame" for the violence that erupted as a result of the rally organized by his party last Saturday after he went home for supper and a nice hot shower.

It is in times like these that one sees clearly how much better a man Lee was than Lien is. When asked by Lien and Ma to step down as party chairman after the 2000 election, he did so immediately in order to take responsibility for the defeat. One cannot help but wonder what has happened to Lien's moral courage over the past four years.
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