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KMT's rule harks back to colonial times

A history professor said yesterday that a recent dispute between a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman and the Chinese-language Liberty Times highlights again the KMT's colonial-style politics in Taiwan.

Tsai Cheng-yuan (蔡正元) labeled the newspaper a "jackal" and the running dog of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

"The KMT spokesman changed his position according to the times. He first lashed out at People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong's (宋楚瑜) embezzlement of the nation and the KMT government's assets when the former KMT leaders turned on Soong during the 2000 presidential election," said Jim Lee (李筱峰), a history professor at Shih Hsin University (世新大學).

"Now he speaks for Soong, because of the political reconciliation between [KMT Chairman] Lien Chan (連戰) and Soong in an effort to secure the 2004 presidential election," Lee said.

"It is obvious that the spokesman made his personal and party interests a priority over Taiwan," said Lee, who specializes in Taiwanese political history.

Lee said the spokesman's role-playing is not unique in the blue camp, and is an echo of former Japanese civil administrator Goto Shimpei's (伊藤新平) carrot and stick policy.

"Despite Goto using this system 100 years ago, the colonial style policy maintains its influence in politics since the KMT obviously adopted a similar thinking in its half-century governance of Taiwan," Lee said.

In 1898, when Goto advised his superior Kodama Gentaro (兒玉源太郎), the fourth governor-general of Taiwan during the Meiji government's colonization, about governing local Taiwanese, he presented his "sweets-and-whip" policy.

The best way to control native Taiwanese residents and make them collaborate with the Japanese government was by luring them with preferential treatment coupled with harsh punishment, Goto said.

Punishment was dished out to those who tried to fight against the colonial leaders. The colonization theory became a well-known part of Taiwan's history.

Being a prominent advocate for "scientific colonization," Goto said that the sweets and whip policy would work well "because Taiwanese people are timid so harsh punishment will halt revolts" when he later wrote a memorandum to Kodama.

"Offering preferential treatment and benefits will please these people and satisfy their greediness for money and fame," added the Japanese civil administrator who planned Taiwan's modern railway network.

Lee said that the only difference between Japanese rulers and the KMT regime was whether they emphasized the carrot or the stick.

"Based upon the sameness of their nature as alien authorities, the colonization government and the KMT leadership decided to lure native Taiwanese as their No. 1 priority for governing Taiwan."

But they were both alert to safeguarding the reins of government so they did their utmost to quell any uprising, Lee said.

Another historian said that the success of Goto's policy and the KMT's rule rested on the native residents' fight for land.

As Taiwan confronted the scarcity of natural resources and minerals, residents fought over farmland. They continued to fight against each other to guard land ownership, which lead to the evolution of the first societies, Lee Yung-chih (李永熾), a history professor at National Taiwan University, said.

He said that the competition led to Taiwanese putting material gain ahead of all else, including the judgment of legitimacy and illegitimacy.

"And it is therefore not surprising to see many Taiwanese pledging their loyalty to the KMT in light of the fact that the regime dominated Taiwan for over 50 years."

"For those who sought fortune and celebrity, working for the KMT was definitely the easiest way to realize their goals," Lee Yung-chih said.

Jim Lee said that certain residents' decision to obey the alien governments' orders to suppress Taiwanese countrymen was disgraceful.

"Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) recruited more Taiwanese youth than his father and promoted locals to the provincial assembly and local councils," Lee said.

For those who joined the KMT at that time, most of them went away from a primitive awareness of Taiwan because of a lack of awareness toward the nation's history and a sense of justice that should have helped them judge the deeds of the KMT government, he said.

For those native-born KMT members who are now middle-aged, it is conceivable that they joined the former ruling party for material gain, Jim Lee said.

"It is really disgraceful when these people blacken the current government and the president from the Democratic Progressive Party on the behest of the KMT," Lee said. "They are attacking Taiwanese countrymen again with regard to the approaching 2004 presidential election."

"They surely have forgiven the KMT's illegitimate repression and pillaging of the people of the island. Unfortunately, they cannot apply a similar charity when attacking fellow Taiwanese who uphold independence or serve in the current government under the Democratic Progressive Party," he said.

Political commentator Lee Ming-yung (李敏勇) said that realizing democracy would help Taiwan get rid of the residual "malign wisdom" of foreign rulers.

"Taiwanese must shift their priorities from pursuing fortune to attaining a profound improvement of spiritual richness. The spiritual wealth includes establishing a real country comprised of people looking for the same goal of a better civilization," Lee said

He said nationals of an advanced civilized country would realize that they are masters of the country, but are not being mastered by the party or persons in power.

"The best therapy is to have every member of this society read Taiwanese history and get to know what happened here. Then they would come up with ideas about a future that Taiwan deserves to have," Lee Ming-yung said.
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