Following the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) overwhelming victory over the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the recent county and municipal elections, some of the international media predicted that the KMT would succeed in forcing their pro-unification agenda through both the legislative and the executive branches of the government.
But the election results far more likely reflected a myriad of local factors, rather than voters' rejection of Taiwan's continuing democratization. In other words, the result may have signaled widespread dissatisfaction with the conduct of the messengers, but hardly of the message of democratization itself.
Still, this clarification mitigates neither the burden of a resounding defeat on the DPP, nor the crisis the defeat entails.
In reality, one of the first consequences of the elections was a clarion call from the public for top-to-bottom reform of the DPP. This was accompanied by a chorus of demands to further "deregulate" cross-strait relations.
There is no doubt that the DPP needs reform. After all, a political party's primary function is to perform well in elections. Every time there is a colossal failure, reform is a must.
Nevertheless, it is reasonable to question whether a party, with a leadership prone to factional squabbles is capable of truly transforming itself, without having the efforts disintegrate into endless recriminations, further aggravating the crisis.
Alternatively, perhaps a team of outside experts should be assembled to look into the existing structures and come up with recommendations for changes. One of the important questions that begs for an answer is how to remain competitive in local politics without emulating the KMT's culture of corruption.
Regarding cross-strait relations, what the KMT is offering focuses on short-term benefits, at the expense of Taiwan's long-term interests. Still, the KMT's message of an illusionary "peace and prosperity" has found a receptive audience among Taiwanese who are willing to temporarily cast aside their reservations about the KMT's past and present transgressions.
Conversely, given that the DPP is taking the long-term view of Taiwan's national security which in turn guarantees Taiwan's continuing democratization, the DPP's approach to cross-strait affairs often imposes on the public various degrees of short-term sacrifice -- be it time or profit.
Therefore, unless politicians and government officials from the DPP conduct themselves with a similar spirit of self-sacrifice, the DPP's message on cross-strait issues will go nowhere.
In other words, it serves little purpose for the pan-green camp to bemoan the general public's lack of farsightedness, or their collective amnesia about the KMT's 50-year abuse of power in Taiwan.
It is not surprising that the Taiwanese people would hold DPP politicians to a high standard, with a squeaky-clean record a minimum requirement.
All of this might also partially explain why so many people, including some within the DPP, are in favor of removing "burdensome" regulations. Yet, further deregulation is the wrong medicine for the DPP.
For one thing, the enhancement of the nation's long-term interests is the DPP's raison d'etre. If deregulation is found to be detrimental to those interests, it should be curtailed instead of being expanded.
Moreover, from a practical point of view, further deregulation will erode the DPP's hard-core support base, which is apparently willing to overlook the DPP's shortcomings as long as it is upholds its core values.
Conversely, given that President Chen Shui-bian (
Viewing these latest elections from a broader perspective, the pan-green camp should be able to take some comfort in the fact that it still garnered 42 percent of the votes even under "perfect storm" conditions for the KMT. The next major elections are two years away. And two years is an eternity given Taiwan's fickle voter sentiment.
The DPP should just shape up and stay the course.
Huang Jei-hsuan
California
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