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Black gold bogs down democratic evolution

Taiwan’s road to democratic development has been full of hurdles. When faced with different historic challenges, many people may doubt whether Taiwan’s democracy will be able to continue on and whether the quality of our democracy will earn the respect and recognition of the world.

The biggest obstacle to Taiwan’s democracy lies in the martial law that was imposed here for 38 years and the party-state concept that is deeply ingrained in the minds of our people. Following the lifting of martial law and the transition of power, Taiwan’s democracy progressed tremendously, representing a strong civil force that disallows political parties or politicians from attacking commonly held democratic norms.

However, democratic development is often rough and tortuous. Newborn democracies in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Southeastern Asia have all experienced political turbulence because of the poor leadership of politicians that placed their democratic systems in jeopardy.

The recent financial irregularities involving former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his family members have saddened and puzzled his supporters. The scandal has also put the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) under great pressure. The DPP had planned to mobilize a street demonstration on Aug. 30. However, many within the DPP now have mixed feelings about this demonstration, as they feel it may give the impression they are supporting Chen.

New developments keep appearing in this case of alleged money laundering. Chen has constantly proclaimed that “the money is clean and there was absolutely no corruption.” Chen’s son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) have also returned to Taiwan for questioning.

Viewed in light of the current evidence, Chen would only be guilty of contravening administrative regulations and for failing to declare his campaign funds accurately and would thus not have broken the criminal code. If this is the case, the media will owe Chen and his family an apology.

On the other hand, however, if we judge the case by higher moral standards, Chen has indeed tried to benefit financially from his actions, thereby harming political ethics and therefore deserves to be condemned and punished accordingly.

The demonstration scheduled for the end of this month is a perfect opportunity for the public to call for greater transparency in the government and we therefore sincerely hope that it can be used to make an urgent appeal to the legislature to pass the “sunshine bills” as soon as possible in order to bolster honest and upright public servants.

If you can trust his comments, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said that the scandal could forge a public consensus on clean politics, allowing the government to use the situation as an opportunity to pass the “sunshine bills.” Wu said the systematic implementation of complementary measures for property declaration and checks would reshape Taiwan’s democracy.

We also call on both the ruling and opposition parties to take advantage of this opportunity to thoroughly eliminate the problems caused by money in politics — including party assets — as well as decrease any pressure that money has on Taiwan’s democracy.

All in all, the demonstration scheduled for the end of this month is not meant to support any particular political party, nor is it simply a movement to provoke or support a certain politician. It aims to help promote an anti-corruption mechanism for the nation’s democracy and get rid of some of the heavy burdens money has caused in politics.



Ku Chung-hua is the chairman of Citizen Congress Watch and an adviser to Taiwan Think Tank.

TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
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