Yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma announced his resignation as he promised he would if indicted, but he also announced his presidential candidacy.
Seeing its hopes of returning to power next year diminishing, the pan-blue camp is panicking. Followers of Ma and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Some KMT members argue that the nation should not be deprived of a presidential candidate solely because of some "absurd" indictment. They have abolished the party's black-gold clause, which calls for the suspension of party membership in the case of an indictment -- a regulation that was introduced by Ma -- and originally hoped to relieve Ma of his pledge to resign as chairman if indicted.
Others are hoping Ma will decide to run as a pan-blue independent. Still others say that he should continue with a KMT presidential bid regardless of the consequences.
All of these groups are actually helping to damage Ma's political credibility.
With party regulations changing so that Ma can become the KMT's presidential candidate, voters will question his integrity.
If Ma persists in his quest for the presidency, it will be difficult for him to claim to be different from President Chen Shui-bian (
When the first family tries to delay the legal progress of first lady Wu Shu-jen's (
On the other hand, running as an independent candidate and waging war on former party comrades would generate the ugliest pan-blue split vote ever seen. Wang's supporters say that any attempt to amend the party charter to benefit Ma will have consequences. It will be intriguing to see what consequences these are.
The campaign to depose Chen called for integrity, but now the pan-blue camp does not want to abide by these principles. If Ma proceeds with this course of action, it will not only mar his reputation, but also make it impossible for the KMT to talk about rules of any nature with credibility.
A Harvard doctor of law and a former justice minister should not take this approach. He cannot justify his preferential treatment to those who have been disciplined in accordance with the party charter in the past.
On the same day, Ma has been indicted for corruption and has shown disregard for the spirit of law by challenging the KMT to endorse him.
The pan-blue camp may be willing to turn a blind eye to Ma's indictment, but the public may not be as charitable.
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