President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) came under fire this week over her decision to continue to chair the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after she is inaugurated on May 20, largely because of her criticism of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in 2009 after he announced he would once again seek the chairmanship of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Tsai on Thursday took the blame for changing her stance, but said the “changing political situation” and the DPP’s new position as the majority party in the legislature made the dual role necessary. She tried to allay concerns by noting that the DPP had changed its charter so that Cabinet members in a DPP administration do not have to be DPP Central Standing Committee members, or even party members.
She also justified her decision by saying that strenuous efforts would be needed to coordinate between the central government and the 13 counties and cities that the DPP controls, as well as between the legislature and the Executive Yuan.
The problem is that Ma said pretty much the same thing in 2009 and then again in 2012 and 2013: Only by serving as KMT chairman could he lead the party to cooperate with the administration and coordinate between the various levels of government.
Yet, this was after he had already moved to enmesh the KMT Central Standing Committee more closely with the Executive Yuan, working out an agreement in August 2008 with then-KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) to have top Cabinet members regularly attend — and report to — the committee’s meetings to build a platform between the government and the party to enhance communication, along with KMT city and county heads, who were to take turns attending the meetings.
Senior DPP members and lawmakers have defended Tsai. DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said she is simply attempting to achieve synchronization between the party and the government that is conducive to reform and political stability, while others said that the party would not serve as a negotiation platform for the party and the government, that there was a need to avoid a possible internal power struggle if a new chairperson had to be elected to replace Tsai, or, put more simply, that Tsai is not Ma.
It is true that Tsai will not face the obstinate obstructionism from a KMT-dominated legislature that former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had to endure throughout both his terms, so she has a much better chance of achieving her reforms.
However, to paraphrase Tsai’s 2009 criticism — even though the DPP does not have the outright three-fourths majority that the KMT then enjoyed — given that the DPP has the legislative majority, Tsai doubling as DPP chairperson would allow her to gain control of both executive and legislative powers, and could see the disappearance of checks and balances.
Is that really likely? No, the DPP is not the KMT and Tsai is not Ma. Yet, despite two transitions of power, too much of the nation’s political structure and administrative systems remain entangled in the party-state apparatus that the KMT established after it fled China.
For this nation to move forward on its democratic path, there must be a break from the past, from the one-party state and the political patronage system it relied upon, from relying on a political party to carry out administrative requirements, or, in the case of the KMT, using the party to create various cross-strait exchanges and forums in lieu of the central government.
Taiwan must develop a governmental system that is independent of political parties.
Tsai sees a need now to continue to serve as head of the DPP after she becomes the nation’s leader. For the sake of the nation, this must not become the long-term solution.
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