It is almost certain that political infighting was involved in accusations of influence peddling against the legislative speaker and the related wiretapping scandal.
Yet, while they have been described by some as a national disgrace, they could be a good thing for Taiwan.
On Friday, the Special Investigation Division of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) had in June telephoned Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), asking him to lobby then-justice minister Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) and Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office Head Prosecutor Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌) to persuade a prosecutor not to appeal Ker’s case in the Supreme Court after Ker was acquitted of embezzling funds in 1997 from Formosa Telecom.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who in the past has always called for thorough investigations into allegations of misconduct against his KMT comrades — such as in the case of former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) — this time promptly accused Wang of having lobbied on Ker’s behalf and said on Sunday that Wang’s conduct marked “the darkest day in Taiwan’s democratic history.”
It is well-known that Wang, as a KMT member and legislative speaker, did not always carry out Ma’s instructions in the legislature, and many suspect Ma is using the case to strip Wang of his political status and power.
It is political purging, as well as influence peddling, that should be seen as a national disgrace.
However, the incident offers a good opportunity for Taiwanese to understand the direction the nation has been taking.
For too long, Taiwanese have been described as mild-mannered in the way they treat politicians and interpret politics. For example, they will accept “minor corruption,” as long as politicians “do something good for the people.”
Historically, Taiwanese have not retaliated against the government until they have personally seen, or been at the receiving end of, extreme treatment. Some argue this is why Taiwan has missed several golden opportunities to mature into a full democracy.
Yet the extremes seem to have become norms. A few worrying examples are the Ma administration’s treatment of the suspicious death of an army corporal, the land expropriation cases in Miaoli County and the government’s insistence on resuming construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), despite strong public disapproval.
Also troubling is the merciless and brutal infighting in the Ministry of National Defense, the Control Yuan and now the Ministry of Justice and the KMT, and how Ma pays lip service to “upholding the Constitution,” but actually treats it as if it were not worth the paper it was written on.
After former DPP president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) corruption scandal, many DPP supporters came to despise their party and the DPP hit rock bottom. The party has had to go back to square one and try to regain the electorate’s trust all over again. This is why, as disgraceful as the current controversy may be, perhaps the silver lining is that for domestic politics and the KMT, there is nowhere to go in the future except up.
History tells us that when Taiwanese reach their darkest point, they will say enough is enough and will take action to put the country back on track.
Taiwan is rapidly accelerating toward becoming a “super-aged society” — moving at one of the fastest rates globally — with the proportion of elderly people in the population sharply rising. While the demographic shift of “fewer births than deaths” is no longer an anomaly, the nation’s legal framework and social customs appear stuck in the last century. Without adjustments, incidents like last month’s viral kicking incident on the Taipei MRT involving a 73-year-old woman would continue to proliferate, sowing seeds of generational distrust and conflict. The Senior Citizens Welfare Act (老人福利法), originally enacted in 1980 and revised multiple times, positions older
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has its chairperson election tomorrow. Although the party has long positioned itself as “China friendly,” the election is overshadowed by “an overwhelming wave of Chinese intervention.” The six candidates vying for the chair are former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), former lawmaker Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文), Legislator Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強), Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), former National Assembly representative Tsai Chih-hong (蔡志弘) and former Changhua County comissioner Zhuo Bo-yuan (卓伯源). While Cheng and Hau are front-runners in different surveys, Hau has complained of an online defamation campaign against him coming from accounts with foreign IP addresses,
Taiwan’s business-friendly environment and science parks designed to foster technology industries are the key elements of the nation’s winning chip formula, inspiring the US and other countries to try to replicate it. Representatives from US business groups — such as the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and the Arizona-Taiwan Trade and Investment Office — in July visited the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) headquarters and its first fab. They showed great interest in creating similar science parks, with aims to build an extensive semiconductor chain suitable for the US, with chip designing, packaging and manufacturing. The
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on Saturday won the party’s chairperson election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes, becoming the second woman in the seat and the first to have switched allegiance from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to the KMT. Cheng, running for the top KMT position for the first time, had been termed a “dark horse,” while the biggest contender was former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), considered by many to represent the party’s establishment elite. Hau also has substantial experience in government and in the KMT. Cheng joined the Wild Lily Student
RSS