Editorial: Time for sit-in to take off its mask

The Taiwan Society's rally last Saturday was designed to show support for embattled President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and to counter the momentum garnered by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh's (施明德) campaign to oust Chen.

But no sooner had the rally finished, then the pro-unification media were trying to rubbish it and gain the moral high ground -- claiming that the red masses that took to the streets the previous night were not mobilized by any group or party, but part of a broad-based civic movement that transcended party political interests.

But there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.

During the first few days, there were numerous visits to the sit-in by pan-blue big hitters, such as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and several pan-blue legislators.

And it was OK to berate pan-green fans and accuse them of traveling from southern Taiwan on the promise of a free lunch box, the free breakfasts, lunches, dinners, drinks and even massages handed out daily to the anti-Chen crowd hardly got a mention. Ma admitted after showing up to serve breakfast last week that the KMT had paid the bill.

Outside Taipei Railway Station on Monday, one elderly participant remarked that the protest had now become a "Bian down" movement -- said in English but made to sound like the Chinese for lunch box -- insinuating that many attendees were at the rally merely for the free meals.

Many shuffle around the sit-in site wearing caps bearing the name of their favorite pan-blue politician. It is not difficult to predict what would happen if one wore a "depose Chen" T-shirt combined with a Frank Hsieh cap to this supposed non-partisan shindig.

At one side of the protest is a large printed diatribe about how former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen are fervent supporters of Taiwan independence, how they want to destroy the Republic of China and start a war with the People's Republic of China -- hardly relevant to an anti-corruption drive.

Then are cable channels like TVBS providing 24-hour blanket coverage of the event -- interspersed with provocative "news" features on the 2004 "Orange Revolution" in the Ukraine and the Philippines "people power" movements.

These kinds of activities are hardly going to inspire pan-green fans to show up, even if they do believe the president, his family and aides have overstepped the mark.

And the pan-blues have stopped short of any obvious mobilization efforts, everyone can see that the sit-in has now been hijacked by anyone with an axe to grind about Chen and the pro-localization movement in general.

If Shih and his people were really interested in a non-partisan fight against corruption, they would refuse to share a stage with people like Soong. If they really wanted to claim the moral high-ground they would not let people like TV-chat-show-guest-beater Lin Cheng-chieh (林正杰), a founder of the China Unification Promotion Party who associates with wanted gangsters, attend.

And Shih's movement really wanted to advance the cause of clean politics then it would push all legislators to pass the raft of anti-corruption legislation that has been stalled in the legislature for nearly as long as the arms bill.

A genuine civic movement would be aimed at a complete overhaul of the political system, which as an engine needs oil, now needs graft to keep it ticking over. It would not just consist of a thinly veiled attack on one man, his party and his supporters. It's time to drop the masquerade.