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Reporter's Notebook: End to corruption a step in nation's democratization

Today, as Taiwan's voters go to the polls, perhaps the most important question is: "Did the money come down last night?" Taiwan's governments have railed against electoral bribery and corruption (賄選) for at least three decades. But, until now, little has been done because the former ruling party and its affiliated local factions and candidates were the primary perpetrators.

One reason that the DPP government appointed former Ilan County commissioner Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) as minister of justice was his record in rooting out vote-buying in his home county. This year the Ministry of Justice has conducted a nationwide campaign to end vote-buying. Numerous media advertisements urge voters to report vote-buying and collect rewards. Investigators are also following money trails through financial institutions.

Strict rules set a limit of NT$30 for any gift to voters. This year, for example, the baseball-style hats worn by candidates' supporters are of poorer quality so that they do not exceed the NT$30 limit. A long-time legislator, whose campaign I "shadowed" two weeks ago, had actually put a newspaper clipping detailing the new rules in his diary. Thirty years ago in Chiayi County, I accompanied vote captains as they handed money out to voters. These same vote captains believe the money will not come down this time.

Clearly, the new government's campaign has changed the dynamics of electoral politics in this nation. If the money does not come down and if the crackdown on vote-buying continues in the future, Taiwan's elections will have undergone a major cultural change. This achievement alone would give President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) government high marks for political reform.

As Taiwan's economy has developed and its political system liberalized and democratized, vote-buying has also evolved. In the early and mid-1970s, most vote-buying was modest and a "morality" prevailed. Most votes at that time cost NT$40 (then US$1).

Furthermore, a voter would only take money from one candidate and would vote for that candidate. Vote captains usually knew which voters had connections (關係) with which candidates. The money simply consolidated support and committed a voter to go to the polls.

In September 1976, I argued in an article in The Intellectual (大學雜誌) that vote-buying helped Taiwan's democratic development.

At that time, controls over the press meant that non-party candidates -- and even many party candidates -- received no media coverage. Vote-buying helped people understand a candidate's message. Furthermore, vote-buying increased voter turnout and any supporter of democratization could only applaud increased political participation.

The problem in Taiwan in the 1970s, as in the US and Japan, was that only wealthy candidates could afford to run for office. A debate in Taiwan at the time suggested that "those who elect should also have the right to be elected." Many potential candidates could not run because they did not meet minimum educational requirements for office. Lack of wealth similarly provided an informal, anti-democratic restriction on potential candidacies.

During the early 1980s, as Taiwan's economy prospered, local governments gained bigger budgets and holding local office became potentially much more remunerative. Candidates would invest substantial resources in electoral campaigns and would therefore need to recoup their investment to run for re-election.

At that time, electoral and governmental corruption became more severe and the practice of vote-buying began to disappear.

With democratization in the 1990s the problem escalated.

Returning to Taiwan in the early 1990s after 12 years on the "blacklist," I saw a KMT that had become an empty structure dependent on local factions for its electoral campaigns. It was during this time that the KMT nominated numerous wealthy businessmen as well as gangsters. The resultant "black gold" (黑金) politics reduced even further the "morality" of vote-buying. Now, candidates offered much more substantial sums, while voters accepted money from multiple candidates and no longer felt an obligation to cast their ballot for the purchaser.

This heyday of "black gold" politics casts the biggest shadow over former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) superb leadership in Taiwan's transition to democracy. If the money did not come down last night, Chen's government will have helped Taiwan take another significant step on the road to democracy.

Bruce Jacobs is professor of Asian languages and studies and director of the Taiwan Research Unit at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He is contributing daily comment for the Taipei Times during the election campaign.
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