Politics can be vulgar and dirty, but it can also be clean. A government can be autocratic and corrupt, but it can also be democratic and open, and look after its land and people. Similarly, our politicians can be sincere, honest, selfless and devoted.
A successful statesman does not necessarily have a high position, great fame or incomparable achievements. But he must possess certain admirable characteristics.
In recent years, I often talk about the story of a great statesman who is unknown in this country and has been forgotten by many in his motherland.
The true statesman that I highly respect is Leon Blum, who became the leader of the French Socialist Party before World War II broke out.
Blum was a lawyer, poet and art critic when he was young. Driven by his personal commitment to justice and equality and his love for human beings, he became a politician. In 1936 he also became the first socialist prime minister of France.
Later during World War II, Germany took over France and quickly established the Vichy government (1940-1944), which collaborated with Nazi Germany. Blum refused to recognize this puppet government, and turned down others' advice to temporarily leave the country.
He said that since he was once a public figure who was in charge of the public affairs of France, he should not leave the country then because he once represented France in the eyes of the world.
This admirable sentiment landed him in a Nazi prison.
After the war, the French people enthusiastically debated their political future, to decide whether to adopt a presidential, cabinet or semi-presidential system.
But this respectful statesman only told them sincerely and earnestly: France's biggest problem is the decline of political ethics, not the poor political system.
Political ethics is not the cultivation of one's personal habits. It is the deep understanding of the fact that politics is the handling of public affairs, the commitment to fulfill one's political obligation and the guts to take political responsibilities.
A politician must ask him or herself at all times: Is my every word and deed based on public interest? Am I improving public welfare? Am I carrying out my political obligations, and taking political responsibility?
Have I done my utmost to overcome my personal weaknesses, such as cowardice, laziness, vanity, greed and an obsession with power?
When my own weaknesses damage public interest, have I irresponsibly covered up or even beautified these weaknesses with some impressive but empty words?
In Taiwan, the one-party autocracy that ruled for five decades ended in 2000. It was a significant change in the development of the country's democracy, and troubles were certainly inevitable.
Recently, however, many politicians have shown a disregard for right and wrong, and engaged in shocking and vicious struggles that trample on public welfare.
Some blame this on the poor design of the nation's constitutional system. But in fact, the root of the problem lies in the corrupt minds and chaotic values created by long-term autocratic rule, under which the Taiwanese people had neither the intention nor ability to monitor and pressure politicians.
As a result, politicians flout ethics and recklessly play power games to fulfill their selfish desires.
In this chaotic situation, I deeply hope that all of us can be inspired by Blum's words and deeds.
Lin I-hsiung is a former chairman of the DPP.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
Ursula K. le Guin in The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas proposed a thought experiment of a utopian city whose existence depended on one child held captive in a dungeon. When taken to extremes, Le Guin suggests, utilitarian logic violates some of our deepest moral intuitions. Even the greatest social goods — peace, harmony and prosperity — are not worth the sacrifice of an innocent person. Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), since leaving office, has lived an odyssey that has brought him to lows like Le Guin’s dungeon. From late 2008 to 2015 he was imprisoned, much of this
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and