Over the last eight years, the DPP has come under the individual control of a few people because Chen had assumed the role of consolidating and allocating the party’s social resources. However, the DPP cannot sit idly by as the system of clientelism prevalent during the past authoritarian party-state era spreads within the DPP, resulting in an excessive reliance on resources while it forgets ideals and reality just because Chen is trying to survive a difficult situation.
Among the participants in Saturday’s rally, those who were disappointed in the government outnumbered the Chen supporters. The DPP should take a careful look at the ideas of these two groups. The high degree of political polarization over the past eight years has forced the Ma administration to deal with a failure to honor its campaign promises and the resulting collapse in public trust and increasingly unstable political situation. In order to open the state coffers to benefit voters and to control internal factions, the government has restored clientelism. This is a good contrast to the DPP’s days in power.
The DPP should have simplified the goals of the rally and drawn a clear line between party politics and Chen. This would have offered an opportunity to avoid continued political strife between the government and the opposition. After all, Chen has left office and must be held legally accountable for whatever he has done.
At the same time, Taiwan must continue to move forward despite the ups and downs of the global economy. It should leave the tightrope and return to rational, pragmatic and professional political supervision of the Ma administration. Isn’t this the road that Tsai has proposed for bringing the DPP back into government?
Liu Dsih-chi is an associate professor of international business at Asia University.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
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