Release Chen Shui-bian
Your recent article on former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) makes a compelling argument for medical parole for Chen (“A-bian to make new petition for parole,” Dec. 10, page 1). In the interest of his health and wellbeing, Chen should be released before his health deteriorates even further than it already has while in prison.
Chen’s mother made an emotional plea for his release as reported in the article. I could not agree more that Chen should be released on medical parole, and in the spirit of Christmas, I hope the Ministry of Justice does what is humane and releases Chen.
Dave Hall
Taipei
KMT must reform
At a Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) released a review of its campaign for the nine-in-one elections. The review concluded that there were six reasons for the KMT’s defeat in the elections.
The fourth point stated that “the impact of the capital’s mayoral election spilled over to other cities and counties,” implying that the unfavorable situation of KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) might have had a negative impact on the party’s campaigns in other areas.
The sixth point criticized some of the party’s mayoral and commissioner candidates who originally enjoyed strong support, without naming any names, saying that they had “overlooked the direction of the elections and failed to adjust their campaign strategies in a timely manner.”
This message was widely interpreted as criticism of KMT New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), who was re-elected by a slim margin, as well as KMT Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚), who failed to win re-election.
This was all very surprising. In the face of the major defeat, the KMT is still engaging in power struggles, as party officials talk as if they were prophets who could foresee the outcome of the elections. The party’s defeat was clearly a result of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) performance in recent years, but party officials are simply passing the buck to Lien.
For the KMT, the most deadly campaign slogan was “a vote for KMT candidate (name) is a vote for Ma Ying-jeou.”
The slogan caused protests from many KMT candidates, some of whom even threatened to file a lawsuit against the use of the slogan.
However, Wu’s defeat serves as an example. He clearly failed to win re-election due to the adverse effect of the corruption scandal involving his deputy, Yeh Shih-wen (葉世文), who has been detained since July on charges of taking bribes from Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設). Wu’s defeat did not have much to do with campaign strategies, and was much more a question of corruption concerns.
To be frank, election experts were stunned by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) landslide victory in the elections. The victory was a result of public anger, which boiled over, but the KMT has failed to review its performance in an attempt to improve. This is clearly seen in the Taiwan Mood Barometer Survey (台灣民心動態調查) conducted earlier this month by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research (台灣指標民調): It showed that 78 percent of respondents disapproved of Ma.
That being so, if the KMT cannot review its performance or push for reform, the public should keep putting pressure on Ma and not stop until he steps down.
Huang Hsiu-li
Taipei
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