Yardsticks for future leaders of the nation

The preparations for next year's presidential election have entered the nomination stage. The Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) internal mechanism and the competition between its various candidates seem to be running smoother than that of other parties. If the nomination process is mishandled, however, it could result in infighting, which would be very bad for the party.

This is why the big parties with established mechanisms follow these mechanisms -- unless there is sufficient reason for altering them.

To allow the indicted former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to participate in the KMT's presidential primary, the party repealed its self-imposed black gold exclusion clause, which stipulates that party membership will be suspended if a member is indicted for a crime.

This gives the public a clear insight into the party. That the KMT, which boasts of having a wealth of talented people, seems to think that life without Ma is impossible, is risible.

The DPP's big four -- Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Premier Su Tseng-Chang (蘇貞昌), Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) -- are all better experienced and more qualified than Ma. They all have their strengths and, if united, would turn into perfect presidential candidates.

There is only one president and one vice president and not two of each. This explains why it is so important for the DPP to act as one. Even if the four split into two tickets for the primaries, they must perform as one united ruling team when in government.

While the contenders vie for publicity during the nomination process, they should do so with respect for their competitors. That is, they should focus on presenting their arguments in a positive manner rather than denigrating their opponents as a way to demonstrate that there is no bad blood between them and that they will continue to work together in future.

But more importantly, the president has to assume more responsibility and therefore the candidates running for the DPP's presidential nomination should be held to even higher standards.

Democratization and localization processes feed upon one another, but for historical reasons, the nation's sovereignty is still incomplete. The first thing that the next president should do, therefore, is uphold and promote Taiwanese consciousness.

When former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was in power, he decided to break away from China by proposing his "special state-to-state" discourse.

A few years ago President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) also characterized the cross-strait dynamic as "one country on each side of the Taiwan strait."

The next president should also present his or her specific goals.

Following the DPP's ascension to power in 2000, the pan-blue camp has adopted a scorched earth policy toward its opponent. Last year, former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) even organized a campaign aimed at ousting Chen from office.

On the international scene, China has worked so hard to isolate Taiwan that even Washington, wary of offending Beijing, has been critical of Taipei. The nation's future president must be able to resist pressure and persevere. Although the strategies adopted may be flexible, the president's reform goals must be crystal-clear and adherence to the sovereignty principle should be unwavering.

Because of the nation's national identity crisis, internal problems and ethnic differences, party and national unity will be difficult to achieve. The future president will therefore need to be receptive to and tolerant of differing opinions

Paul Lin is a political commentator in Taipei.

Translated by Daniel Cheng