Mon, Apr 04, 2016 page8

• KMT becoming a laughing stock

  • By Justin Chen 陳建仲
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  The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has shocked the nation once again, this time with the help of the four candidates in its chairperson by-election.

  Outsiders might find it hard to believe that the candidates would follow the KMT’s defeat in the legislative and presidential elections by throwing dirt at each other and washing the party’s dirty linen in public, but it only goes to show that an old dog cannot be taught new tricks. All the ugliness shown during the by-election is unlikely to be the last of it — there is more where that came from.

  The fundamental structural divisions among the party’s members have prevented the rise of talent and hampered the efforts of middle-aged candidates to come forward.

  Facing the almost insurmountable barrier of opposition from members of the Huang Fu-hsing (黃復興) special military veterans’ branch, candidates concerned with saving face simply refrained from running, while those unhappy with the branch’s influence found a delegate to step up in their stead. And those who consider Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) a good role model did all they could to talk about the party’s “ill-gotten” assets.

  Not one of them showed devotion to the party; they were only interested in scoring political points, getting elected and paving the way for their next political appointment.

  All candidates lacked a convincing platform and the election almost degenerated into a “coloring contest.” Just look at the campaign slogans: One of them proposed cleaning the party flag of orange rind and soil — that is, getting rid of members sympathizing with the People First Party (PFP) and the localization faction within the party, making it clear that they were not interested in promoting solidarity. The candidates ignored the views of the public and concerned themselves with gaining votes from party members.

  The by-election also became a muckraking competition.

  One candidate, imitating Ko, who is well known for his middle-of-the-road position, made shocking statements about the KMT’s assets, but was ridiculed for dreaming of becoming Taipei mayor and creating ever more controversy over the party’s assets.

  Another candidate suggested giving away the party’s ill-gotten assets to its members as a way to set things straight within the party — a proposition that it is essentially no different from vote-buying.

  After drawing criticism, the candidate gave up the idea and proposed instead that the general public decide — using the “i-Voting” system — how to return the assets to the public.

  The same candidate even made the unsubstantiated claim that past chairperson elections were rigged, and alleged KMT party assets had been handled illegally. Why had he not reported these issues at the time they were happening?

  It is likely that even the party chairperson has limited knowledge of the party’s assets.

  The candidates attacked each other with remarks previously coined by the pan-green camp, forgetting integrity, which is something a party chairperson should possess.

  The most deplorable part of it all was the candidates’ attempts to eliminate each other using weapons prepared by the enemy camp.

  In order to gain access to the Huang Fu-hsing branch, one candidate deliberately made an issue of Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) cross-strait policy of “one China, same interpretation,” which she proposed while running for the party’s presidential nomination.

  The candidate used the New Power Party’s approach of inciting young people to rebel, with Hung angrily retorting that doing so sounded “just like the communists.”

  When some veterans openly supported then-acting KMT chairperson Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠), one candidate showed photographs of Huang and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), insinuating that she is pro-independence at heart.

  Huang struck back saying that her opponent would give away the Republic of China (ROC) just to secure peace.

  As the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is toning down the issue of ethnic divisions following its win in January’s presidential and legislative elections, it is surprising to see KMT members use the same issue to attack each other.

  Accusations of leading the KMT down the same road as the New Party — secretly supporting independence and following the PFP in leaning toward the DPP — became the underlying topic of the by-election.

  KMT party heavyweights did not contest the election, and the candidates who did were unqualified.

  This farcical by-election has come to an end, but more of the same disgraceful antics are certain to follow.

  The pan-green camp’s plan to promote transitional justice is not a panacea, but it will be able to uncover more of the back room deals from the KMT government’s authoritarian days.

  There really was no urgency to elect an interim chairperson to lead the KMT until the next regular election, since no one knows which direction the party is going.

  The KMT needs to move toward a collective leadership and give more power to the party’s legislators so that middle-aged party members can be involved the party’s leadership.

  It should downsize its Central Standing Committee, but expand its areas of decision.

  It must tailor its policies to the needs of the public and make sure that party members reach out to local communities.

  After all, without public support, party assets mean nothing, and besides, all those assets might soon be reduced to zero.

  Justin Chen is the vice president of the Cross-Strait Policy Association.

  Translated by Yu-an Tu
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