Print

Mail

wiki links

Ma criticized for an op-ed piece

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday accused Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of abusing democratic systems and engaging in populism during the presidential election in an op-ed piece in a Chinese-language newspaper. Analysts said it showed that Ma is weak on political discourse and lacks reflection.

Ma's article was published yesterday for the 85th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement (五四運動), a movement launched in China in 1919 in which intellectuals and students staged demonstrations against the feudal and traditional Chinese culture, spurred on by the allocation of German concessions in China to Japan as part of the Treaty of Versailles. The movement is considered the beginning of China's modernization.

Ma has published newspaper articles commemorating the May Fourth Movement for several years. This year he used the words of a key figure in the May Fourth Movement, philosopher and essayist Hu Shih (胡適), as his article's title: "Democracy is a lifestyle of reason and tolerance."

Ma stressed in his article that the presidential election showed many of the negative sides of democracy, such as social unease and rifts and confrontation between ethnic groups, which he attributed to the DPP's agitation and vilification of its opponents during the campaign trail.

"This presidential election was an ominous omen for Taiwan. The ruling party repeatedly told people that holding referendums and writing a constitution is a universal human right and a means of supporting democracy and loving Taiwan," Ma wrote. "The DPP's campaign appeals rapidly eroded political diversification and tolerance in democratic politics, through populism."

He blamed the DPP for developing a "new holy trinity" combining the promotion of referendums, writing a new constitution and Taiwan's independence as the party's "endless extension of power."

On the other hand, Ma said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should be credited for facilitating the transfer of power in 2000, and it also abandoned negative campaigning in this election.

On March 12, the KMT sponsored five full-page newspaper advertisements in which Adolf Hitler's photograph featured prominently, while calling on voters to end President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "dictatorship" on election day.

Ma said that he put forth his ideas clearly and did not make any unwarranted accusations in his article.

"People who delve into my article will realize what I'm talking about. I don't have to explain more," Ma told reporters yesterday.

Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), a researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences at Academia Sinica said Ma's article showed that the KMT has not developed a strong political discourse which could rival the DPP's.

"What Ma criticized was the form of democracy, rather than the substance of democracy," Hsu said.

"I think Ma could focus more on the KMT's reform and hammer out a new political discourse for his party, instead of continuing the thinking advocated on March 13 Rally , which was anti-Chen," Hsu said.

Hsu added that Ma's words were too intellectual for the public to understand and it was also untenable to accuse the DPP of populism just because the DPP used a language that was more familiar to people.

"It will expose the KMT shortcoming of being so remote from public opinion," said Hsu.

DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said that it was the KMT and People First Party that called on people to continue protesting over the past month who were the real demagogues, and were the ringleaders in causing social unease and tension.

This story has been viewed 2538 times.