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EDITORIAL: The DPP faces a long, uphill battle

On the heels of his defeat in the presidential election, Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) resigned as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman. Then, at risk to his reputation, he withdrew his resignation and agreed to stay on until May 25.

The temporary chairman will have to shoulder the burden of rebuilding the party's morale after two consecutive election losses, review party affairs and pave the way for his replacement.

This is a heavy responsibility and involves a lot of work.

Party members have not voiced reluctance following last weekend's election to look at what went wrong. The main problem has been the absence of a chairman, which meant that no one could convene a meeting. Hsieh's decision to stay on should now make it possible to launch that process.

So what did, indeed, go wrong? During its eight years in power, many of the DPP's founding ideals were abandoned, mostly as a result of power struggles. Its rise to power led many of its leaders to develop ties with corporations and initiate policies that catered to big business. This led to accusations of corruption, hurting the party's reputation as diligent, uncorrupt and pro-Taiwan and triggered an exodus of supporters.

The economy did grow over the eight years the DPP was in power, but the wealth generated was unevenly distributed, only benefiting the wealthy while leaving the lower and disadvantaged classes behind. The DPP's inability to resolve that unequal distribution and other public welfare issues had negative repercussions.

Another area where things went wrong was party stability. The DPP government was led by no less than seven premiers and the Cabinet was frequently reshuffled, resulting in a lack of continuity and an inability to plan for the future, which, coupled with obstruction by the opposition-controlled legislature, led to a poor political record.

Power also fed egoism, leading some to seek to satisfy their interests -- or those of their faction within the party -- rather than the nation's. Infighting and the inability to unite during the presidential election led to rumors that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Hsieh and former DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun did not see eye to eye on a number of issues. This made it difficult for the DPP to compete with a far more tightly knit Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Although the DPP works democratically, factional conflict created problems with the nomination of party members. To eliminate the competition and ostensibly to maintain ideological "purity," internal opinion polls became part of the process to nominate a presidential candidate, which resulted in the exclusion of middle-of-the-road supporters. Not only did this narrow the party's choices and make it impossible to nominate the most competitive candidate, but it also had a negative impact on the election.

The negative coverage that this created has made the younger generations reluctant to join the party, which threatens to deprive it of the new blood it will need if it is to be relevant.

The DPP must review and deal with all the challenges that it faces. This is not only the responsibility of the party chairman, but a historic task that all party members, present and future, must take on.
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