The nation's only hope lies in the future. If Chen Shui-bian really has to step down to secure this, then so be it. After all, it is only a matter of one individual. Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), former Presidential Office secretary-general, recently said that there are more important battles to fight before the presidential election in 2008. A serious imbalance between the blue and green camps is bad for Taiwan.
Maybe the suggestion that President Chen resign temporarily at the beginning of next year and then resume his duties if he is found innocent is a useful constitutional precedent. But what then?
I wonder where the next team with vision will be found. In his speech to the court following his death sentence Socrates said: "The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways -- I to die and you to live. Which is the better, only God knows."
May God bless Taiwan, for we must shoulder this responsibility.
Huang Jong-tsun, a former minister of education, is president of China Medical University.
Translated by Daniel Cheng
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