The nation's worries are rooted in politics. The "fictitious," "foreign" and "residual" state underwent a transition of power, which sent politicians of all creeds on a scramble for power. After falling from power in 2000, those affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had to wait another four years for their next chance. They continued to hold on to the notion of the party state and were able to boycott everything the new government did by virtue of having maintained a majority in the legislature. This year's election is long over, but they are still claiming the illegitimacy of the re-elected government, to the extent that they are washing our dirty linen abroad.
Politicians affiliated with the KMT, the People First Party (PFP) and the New Party have been dividing their time between trying to hobble the government and coming up with ways to increase their own power -- hardly the behavior of a bona fide opposition. Meanwhile, former colleagues of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), particularly the old comrades from the days of the Kaohsiung Incident jealous at seeing a new generation come into their own, have come to replace the KMT as the challenge to the DPP government, constituting a third group. They have suddenly joined ranks with the KMT, PFP or New Party, shouting anti-Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) slogans, and seeing themselves as saviors of democracy.
This is all about trying to fit the government system to one's own needs. Whereas before the presidential system was hailed as the answer to everything, favor has since switched to parliamentary system. The country's political culture has yet to fully recover from the decades of corruption brought on as a result of long term KMT government since the end of the war, and both the presidential system and parliamentary system have had their share of criticism due to problems concerning the caliber of the politicians. Both systems have their advantages. The system itself is not the most important consideration, it's the people who operate within it.
Is the parliamentary system a solution to corruption? If the pro-Taiwan political parties -- the DPP and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) -- secured a victory in the legislature, or if they formed a majority alliance, and we had a state apparatus with the DPP and TSU in the driving seat, what would that achieve? And if we return to a presidential system? Then we could forget about problems revolving around this "fictitious," "foreign" and "residual" Republic of China.
The problem with the DPP government under Chen is its belief that it has too little support in society. This makes it difficult for the government to make any progress, and leads to it inheriting criticisms formerly leveled at the KMT government -- namely, excessive conservatism and insufficient creativity. The pan-blues are only interested in wresting power back for themselves, and have even been known to delve into the National Treasury to finance their old habits. How can they win the trust of Taiwan's people like this?
A third group has shifted from a position of wanting to see the KMT wiped off the face of the planet to plotting alongside it. The political halo of politicians in this third group has faded as their allegiance seems to be informed by opportunism. They were once members of the other two groups, and fear that they will end up as nobodies. They are compounding the political confusion brought on by outsiders with their nihilism.
Again, the problem does not lie in whether we have a presidential system or a parliamentary system: the problem is in the individuals themselves. This system, after half a decade of KMT rule, has been corrupted due to the low caliber of the politicians within it.
Given that the problem lies in the politicians themselves, it would be worthwhile to take a look at these individuals, starting with those in the DPP, the ruling party. Chen is a son of Taiwan from the post-war period. The problem of rebuilding the nation, and of transforming it through peaceful means from an illegitimate irregular state into a more conventional state has been left to the post-war generation of politicians. KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
But back to people -- and not politicians or those people who are politicians but who pretend that they are not. The Taiwanese have got to shake the bizarre mentality that the nature of the citizenry is contingent on the nature of the nation, and vice versa. We have got to realize that these matters cannot simply be broken down to the level of the state, and that the fulfillment of our hopes begins with the qualities of individuals.
The legacy of a Chinese-style and KMT-style party state system is extremely pernicious. We should not hold out any hope that a Chinese-style, KMT state in Taiwan will ever result in a normal, regular country. Instead, we have to encourage the DPP government to leave behind the ghost of that model, and start down the road to reconstruction. The hope is that the politicians, and in fact everyone that lives in Taiwan, should attempt a self-renewal in their various capacities as individuals, as Taiwanese, as citizens of Taiwan and as citizens of the world.
Those that see nothing but loathing and disillusionment, lost as they are in the current political doldrums, need to think about these various viewpoints if they are to recreate themselves in a positive way as individuals and citizens, and thereby recreate the nation in which they live.
First, there is the question of the individual, which is fundamental. We must first transform ourselves into normal, wholesome, good people. We have to become balanced individuals, physically and emotionally, in terms of our wisdom and education, our physical body and our souls, substance and spirit, economics and culture, and find a harmonious balance between the private and the social.
Second, we have to develop a consciousness of what it is to be Taiwanese. This includes an historical awareness, to understand both the past and present, and a geographical awareness of our island location. This combined historical and geographical consciousness will enable the Taiwanese to develop a concept of having a shared destiny and form a feeling of mutual understanding.
Next comes the recognition of ourselves as the citizenry of Taiwan. How to establish ourselves as citizens, with all the rights and duties that follow, falls within the realm of the law. This entails identifying ourselves as belonging to one nation as opposed to another. But this is meant to bring us together rather than distance ourselves from others. The "Chinese" have become confused between their national and ethnic identities, and these need to be clarified. The Chinese, KMT-style party state model needs to be discarded.
Then there is identification of ourselves as citizens of the world. Despite the fact that a nation-state is the primary political unit, the trend nowadays is for greater communication and mutual support between these states and their citizens. This is to enhance a consciousness of global unity and to benefit humankind, and to avoid the enmity bred by nationalism.
This country has very close economic ties with the rest of the world. This should be extended also to the cultural sphere, to foster in the Taiwanese an understanding of their role as citizens of the world.
The political strife and social problems that the nation is currently undergoing are the result of too many ghosts from a past political era. Such outdated thinking has left the country exhausted, laboring under artificial criteria on the nature of a state enforced from outside, and the scrambling of politicians from a bygone age still seeking to grab some advantage for themselves. For the sake of our future, we have to consider our situation as individuals, as Taiwanese, as citizens of Taiwan, and as citizens of the world.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER
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