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KMT may be digging its own grave

From what we have seen of the campaigning for the Dec. 3 local government elections so far, it seems it has been little more than a string of dirty tactics. Previously, the most controversial issue was which party stood for Taiwan and which for China. In this election the focus has been on mud-slinging: The process was started by the pan-blues, but the pan-greens soon got in on the act, getting down to the same level. The Taiwan-China debate has moved on to which party is the most corrupt, and it is this that the electorate is taking most into consideration.

Pan-blue legislators have ganged up with sympathizers within the media (especially at TVBS) and the prosecutorial system and stepped into the fray armed with the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal, accusing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of corruption.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said it all when he announced that "The DPP, after five years in government, is even more corrupt than the KMT." Of course, in saying this, he is also admitting that the KMT is corrupt.

Let's examine the claim that the DPP is corrupt. Ever since the DPP came to power in 2000, the pan-blues have launched wave after wave of attacks on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), using the influence on the media they acquired during the days of the party-state system. They finally struck gold with the KRTC scandal.

Now that it looks like former deputy secretary-general to the Presidential Office Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) had indeed been involved in the scandal, the pan-blue camp has seen blood, and the knives are out. They are going all-out to portray the DPP as a corrupt party, even trying to tar members of the president's family with the same brush.

To be honest, this is exactly what the pan-blues have been looking for in their relentless attacks on Chen Shui-bian. The DPP has been knocked reeling, and is finding it difficult to parry the blows. Nevertheless, it is possible that the pan-blues have gone too far, especially in their attempts to implicate Chao Yu-chu (趙玉柱), the father of Chen Shui-bian's son-in-law, in the KRTC scandal, which has galvanized the DPP into fighting back. Not only is the tactic of attacking the president losing momentum, it is also giving the pro-green electorate reason to unite against a common enemy.

Some DPP members took a false step in proposing the "new DPP movement," for although the party should remain committed to reform, the process should not be driven by bait set by the opposition.

If the DPP is to turn things around and drag itself back out of the mud in this fracas, it will have to go on the offensive, and start revealing instances of corruption within the KMT.

The most obvious are the 18 percent preferential interest rate for retired public servants, military personnel and teachers; Taichung Mayor Jason Hu's (胡志強) attempts at maximizing his pension by blurring the lines between party and state service; suspected corruption by KMT Taipei County commissioner candidate Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), who allegedly used his position as a provincial councillor in 1997 to put pressure on a bank to grant loans which have not yet been repaid; KMT Changhua County commissioner candidate Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源), who is suspected of involvement in corrupt procurements for the Taiwan Railway Administration; Keelung Mayor Hsu Tsai-li (許財利), who has been accused of real-estate fraud by members of the People First Party; and Miaoli County commissioner candidate Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻), who is suspected of fraud amounting to more than NT$270 million (US$8 million).

Probably one-quarter of the KMT's nominees at city and county level have been accused of some form of corruption. It is interesting to contemplate how its strategy may prove ineffectual, or even backfire, because the KMT's "sacred mission" to reveal corruption in government may only serve to draw attention to its own less than perfect track record on this score.

Since the pan-blues don't understand themselves and don't understand others, this policy is likely to backfire, and they will only succeed in digging their own grave.

Chin Heng-wei is editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine.

Translated by Paul Cooper and Ian Bartholomew
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