Recently the Finance Committee of the Legislative Yuan became mired in a conflict-of-interest controversy after it was discovered that members of the committee had pressured public financial institutions to invest in certain private investment companies. The reporter who exposed the scandal in the media subsequently became the target of threats by the mafia. The Ministry of Finance did not dare to make any comments with respect to the matter and some KMT legislators went so far as to speak in defense of the scandal. This kind of situation, which has been dubbed "black gold politics," is yet another instance in which the KMT and the government have brought shame on Taiwan politics with their trampling of democracy.
This scandal was not an isolated incident. It is a clear sign of the worsening of the "black gold" problem. As the presidential election approaches, "black gold" is increasingly coming out into the open by exploiting the KMT's determination to win the presidential election. From the term extension of the National Assembly deputies to the pay raise for legislative representatives, each incident is a further step in the regression of Taiwan's democracy. The reforms initiated by President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) over the past 12 years may have jump started democratization and liberalization, but the infrastructure of democracy is far from complete and their are still many elements within the political system which are incompatible with the spirit of democracy.
The corrupting of the political system has taken place in step with democratization. As a result, the post-reform political system looks increasingly like nothing more than a hollow shell. Corruption has spread from the political system into the social and economic systems. These systems, lacking autonomy, fail to regulate or constrain the corruption of the political system. Unhindered, corruption and violence become dominant in all areas of our society. The prevalence of "black gold politics" is the result of the hollowing out of democratic values and the continued operation of these dysfunctional systems.
The democratization of Taiwan was primarily the result of the defeat of an old regime rather than the establishment of a new order. Thus far, Taiwan's democratization remains focused on political deregulation and expansion of civic participation. This has taken the form of the lifting of martial law, the removal of media censorship, and the selection of legislators and the president through popular election. As the old regime is being torn down, no new values and regulations have taken their place. Political deregulation was not accompanied by preventive measures against the rise of corruption. Therefore, although we have expanded civic participation in the political process, we have neglected to improve the quality of such participation.
The result of this has been the creation of a "hollow democracy," that is, a democratic system without any substantive content. Indicators of this phenomenon include the following:
1. The hollowing out of values is reflected by the simplification of democracy to an exclusive focus on winning elections. The only mission of the political parties is to win elections. Anyone who can help them achieve this goal, irrespective of who or what they are, is allowed an active part in steering the political process.
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