Recent developments have again belied Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (
Ma has been running on these themes for months now, taking great pains to paint an economy with a healthy growth rate as stagnant and to blame every problem under the sun on the past seven years of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) governance.
A vote for Ma, he says, is a vote for the underdog and a sure-fire path to a brighter future.
But all the promises of rejuvenating every single industry and sector in the economy and ensuring the well-being of every citizen under his care pale compared with the time-honored KMT tradition of placing party interests above everything else.
The latest example? Ma's party has placed a draft amendment to the Organic Law of the Central Election Commission (CEC) (
It seems the pan-blue dominated legislature, so well-versed in the art of ignoring important bills, can move fast when it wants to.
But don't expect anything other than the usual tomorrow -- in other words, yet another blocked bill. The KMT is determined to address the draft amendment, but several DPP lawmakers are just as determined to prevent that from happening and told the pan-blue camp it would have to pass the amendment "over our dead bodies."
If the KMT caucus really cared about economic development and the public good, it would put non-controversial bills at the top of the agenda tomorrow before the circus begins.
Otherwise, bills that really affect the nation's development won't so much as pass the legislative speaker's lips.
Several draft amendments to the Statute for Upgrading Industries (
But instead of getting any work done, tomorrow the legislature will treat the public to the latest chapter in the increasingly absurd spat over election procedures.
If the pan-blue camp passes the amendment, which would require commission members to be selected according to the number of legislative seats held by each party instead of being nominated by the premier and appointed by the president, it will hold the majority on the commission. That would give the KMT the means to work against all DPP-initiated referendums, including the plebiscite on recovering the KMT's stolen assets.
If actions speak louder than words, then Ma's pledges won't go very far. The KMT's performance on the legislative floor is likely to erode his credibility once more.
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