DPP's early success may have hurt its future

It was only after struggling -- largely on the streets -- for well over a decade as an opposition movement that the DPP came to power and formed its own administration last year.

This was achieved only shortly before the party celebrated its 14th birthday and was Taiwan's first transfer of political power.

But, as it turns 15 years old today, more than a quarter of the way into its first administration, the mood in the DPP is not one of unbridled joy, but rather of impotence and frustration at being the party in power -- and yet without power.

Indeed, its path to genuine power appears to be getting bumpier and bumpier.

"[The party] has been through a very painful transformation [from being the opposition to becoming the ruling party]. Every time it moves towards the middle ground, its left-wing supporters feel aggrieved," said Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), a political science professor at National Chengchi University.

To expand its voter base, Wu says the DPP must adopt the kind of middle-ground strategies that proved effective in Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) winning his presidential victory. As the party gains new supporters, however, DPP loyalists feel a sense of alienation, expressing their doubts as to whether the party's ideas really match their own.

Referring to the residents of Kungliao (貢寮) township, where the construction site of the highly controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四) is located, Shih Shin-min (施信民), convener of the Nuclear Free Country Association, says: "Consider these residents, for example. They are fed up with [the DPP's] promises, none of which have been realized."

He added that the residents rode an emotional roller-coaster as the Cabinet remained indecisive on whether to continue construction of the plant.

Shih, however, says that he, as a rational intellectual, tries to understand the difficulties the DPP faces, stuck as it is with an opposition-dominated legislature.

"We tend to restrain the severity of our criticism due to our past revolutionary ties with the DPP," Shih added, "but we may now turn to the Taiwan Solidarity Union or the Green Party as they may support us on environmental issues."

Shih's remarks highlight the DPP's dilemma.

DPP legislator Chen Chung-hsin (陳忠信) has argued that the DPP, as a responsible ruling party, should not have pursued its controversial goal to scrap the plant nor its aim to establish a 44-hour work week. Misjudgment about the prospects of passing these two thorny bills shook the foundations of the DPP administration, Chen said.

"At that time, the country's economic concerns should have been given greater priority than social or environmental issues. The failure to pass those two bills helped the opposition parties to label the DPP an economically incompetent party which is only good at political infighting," Chen added.

Before the DPP came to power, party heavyweight Chang Chun-hung (張俊宏) had proposed that the party seek a gradual route to power, forging the theory of "peripheries surrounding the center (地方包圍中央)." This theory aimed to take gradual control of local government before assuming the power of central government so that the party would rule on a solid foundation and with strong support from the legislature and local governments.

But, according to this theory, Chen's unexpected presidential victory last year catapulted the party to national power prematurely, which many observers say is likely to limit the party's gains in the year-end legislative elections.