As the pan-blue camp represented by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Over the weekend, both President Chen Shui-bian (
The question we need to ask, however, is how the blue camp's and protesters' behavior has shaped the viewpoints of most Taiwanese people and the global media.
During the week of protests, pan-blue presidential candidate and KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) told a seething crowd that Chen's victory amounted to "stealing the nation." His wife, Lien Fang Yu (連方瑀), also visited the fuming mob to demand a new election.
People First Party chairman James Soong (
On March 26, when the Central Election Commission announced the president's election in conformity with the law, KMT and PFP legislators and city council members launched mass protests in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. After crowds besieged the commission and local courts, some protesters committed vandalism, beat up police officers, smashed the commission building's glass doors and threatened the safety of security personnel behind the doors. PFP civil servants publicly announced there and on television that they would launch a revolution to oust Chen and his administration.
Obviously, the pan-blue camp did not abide by the laws of a constitutional democracy during its post-election demonstrations. Ignoring the country's laws, the election's losers rashly defamed the head of the nation, refused to wait for the judicial author-ities' investigation into the supposed controversies, and publicly called upon their supporters to take illegal actions. Weren't these actions consistent with a coup?
Incomprehensibly, Ma refused to enforce the nation's laws against these demonstrations. What enormous political pressures forced him to make such a ridiculous decision? We hope Ma, who has fiercely opposed characterizations of blue efforts as a coup, will come forward to explain the reasons he made that decision, and how it relates to the pan-blue camp.
The post-election demonstrations that resulted in bloodshed on April 10 have scarred the minds of Taiwan's people. Everyone is allowed to describe these searing images of violence in their own words -- including the words "coup d'etat."
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