Editorial: PFP: Pathetic Fleeting Phenomenon

One of the saddest phenomena in the circus that is Taiwanese politics is the ease with which certain people or parties punch well above their weight.

As the party that gives the pan-blue alliance its legislative majority, the People First Party (PFP) has been able to act with virtual impunity in pretending that it represents all of Taiwan.

Ever since June, when the hate campaign against President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) began with the legislative recall bid, the PFP and party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) have been at the forefront of efforts to oust Chen. His party has repeated time and again that above all, the president must step down, as it is the collective wish of "the people."

The PFP pretends to be an overseeing force, working for the good of Taiwan, when in reality it has done nothing but obstruct legislation, freeze and cut government budgets and trample all over the Constitution, helping to bring the nation to a virtual standstill in the six years since its inception.

It was the PFP that provided the impetus for the failed presidential recall bid, and it was the PFP that was responsible for the unreasonable decision by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers to reject the president's nominee for prosecutor-general, Hsieh Wen-ding (謝文定), in April.

The PFP has also been instrumental in the blocking and watering down of the arms procurement bill, which has had a serious effect on Taiwan's ability to defend itself and maintain productive relations with the US.

And now the party has announced it will "paralyze" the new legislative session -- if it were possible to paralyze something that doesn't function -- by using "extreme measures" in reaction to the president's call for more constitutional change.

Aside from being a party that garnered just 14.8 percent of the vote, or 34 seats, in the last legislative elections (now 22 seats, thanks to defections back to the KMT), what can be said about the PFP?

At worst, it is Beijing's friend, advocating unification and doing its best to undermine the democracy that Taiwanese have worked so hard to realize.

At best, it is a personality cult formed after the 2000 presidential election, when Soong -- running as an independent after being expelled from the KMT -- was narrowly defeated by Chen. Encouraged by his strong showing, Soong formed the party, and he was joined by a host of KMT lawmakers. These opportunists thought Soong was the future of Taiwanese politics, but five years later, when KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) star was on the rise, a good number scuttled back to their former home, leaving Soong a forlorn and increasingly marginalized figure.

And while the PFP is now leading efforts to get rid of Chen with a second recall bid, it remains hesitant to pursue the one guaranteed means of getting him out of office: Toppling the Cabinet would force the president to dissolve the legislature and call new elections.

If the PFP is as popular as it wants to be, this may give it and the KMT enough seats in the legislature to recall the president. So what is Soong waiting for?

His hesitancy results from the new "single-district, two-vote" system, under which the number of legislative seats will be halved and smaller parties like the PFP all but wiped out.

This likely state of affairs will cleanse the political system of a number of extremists, but until then, we can expect Soong and Co to do their level best to make their corrosive mark in a joke legislature.