There is a certain amusing irony in KMT Legislator Chang Shou Wen (張碩文) being battered with a mobile phone in the middle of a debate on -- of all things -- the national communications bill. What next? A Monty Python farce where lawmakers slap each other with fish or pelt each other with rotten fruit over the farming and fisheries bills?
At least, this would be amusing if it weren't for the fact that this clown-like behavior is scrutinized by the international community at a time when Taiwan's image is at its most fragile, and support for Taiwan's valid and vital bid for sovereignty is at a low ebb.
As Michael Turton pointed out (Letters, Oct. 12, page 8), a long-term strategy of the pan-blues is to make Taiwan appear ungovernable and incapable of running its own affairs.
One of their tactics to this end is to ensure that any democratic debate degenerates into an impasse or, better still, disorder. All lawmakers who engaged in violence on Tuesday were guilty of disgraceful conduct, regardless of their political hue, but for the DPP to allow themselves to even become involved seems to be a stunning own goal.
The finger-pointing by both sides over who actually started Tuesday's incident is reminiscent of playground fisticuffs and not worthy of discussion or coverage. Violence was pre-meditated by lawmakers on all sides. Reports on Monday in the media stated that the KMT had suggested that their members come "combat ready" in "karate suits," while PFP members turned up in military uniforms.
The DPP recommended "loose fitting clothing and sneakers." Though the DPP's sartorial advice for parliament is slightly less silly than martial-arts outfits and a good deal less sinister than army fatigues, their choice of attire was nevertheless intended as preparedness for Tuesday's scuffles.
In the face of provocation by the pan-blues, it would be better for the DPP to require that its members maintain dignity and uphold elementary democratic principles, instead of urging them to come to parliament ready for a dust-up.
Some from all sides of the debate may think that a Punch and Judy-style legislature holds some bizarre entertainment value for the electorate, diverting attention from the far more pedestrian issue of actually pushing through tangible reforms.
But the real danger of allowing violence to play any part in democratic deliberation is that when consensus is achieved at the end of a baseball bat, or the barrel of a gun, this is only turning Taiwan into a classic example of a "failed state."
It is often claimed that Taiwan is a youthful democracy undergoing a transformation into maturity. Tuesday's incidents give ammunition to Taiwan's enemies, who charge that the development of the Taiwan's democracy appears to have been arrested at the kindergarten stage.
Presenting such an image to an already indifferent international community can only hasten the day when China appears on the scene and makes Taiwan stand in the corner with a pointy hat on. And then everybody will be very sorry indeed.
Gareth Price
Taipei
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
Liberals have wasted no time in pointing to Karol Nawrocki’s lack of qualifications for his new job as president of Poland. He has never previously held political office. He won by the narrowest of margins, with 50.9 percent of the vote. However, Nawrocki possesses the one qualification that many national populists value above all other: a taste for physical strength laced with violence. Nawrocki is a former boxer who still likes to go a few rounds. He is also such an enthusiastic soccer supporter that he reportedly got the logos of his two favorite teams — Chelsea and Lechia Gdansk —
Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Tuesday last week apologized over allegations that the former director of the city’s Civil Affairs Department had illegally accessed citizens’ data to assist the KMT in its campaign to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors. Given the public discontent with opposition lawmakers’ disruptive behavior in the legislature, passage of unconstitutional legislation and slashing of the central government’s budget, civic groups have launched a massive campaign to recall KMT lawmakers. The KMT has tried to fight back by initiating campaigns to recall DPP lawmakers, but the petition documents they
RSS