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After 16 years, DPP has matured

By Lin Mei-chun
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Sep 29, 2002, Page 2

President and DPP Chairman Chen Shui-bian leads more than a hundred supporters on a jog during a sports activity to celebrate the party's 16th anniversary yesterday. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

In 16 years, the DPP has grown from a toddler into a young man.

The party displayed its vitality during a sports event as it celebrated its anniversary yesterday.

When it was founded, the party was a humble, underground group on Taiwan's political fringe. Now it is the largest in the legislature and the nation has a DPP president.

These accomplishments did not come easily.

"The birth of the DPP did not occur by chance. Rather, it was built on the blood, tears and lives of those who came before us. Without the DPP, Taiwan would have accomplished no democratic achievements," said DPP Chairman and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Chen made the comment at a celebration Friday at the Grand Hotel, where the party was launched in 1986.

An official at the Presidential Office who has worked closely with the movement since the tang-wai era hailed the party and its efforts to forge a national identity.

As he compared the DPP to "a train switching track," the official said the party's primary contribution has been changing the government from one that is China-oriented to one that is Taiwan-centered.

A group of cheerleaders yesterday performs at the opening ceremony for the DPP's 16th anniversary at a stadium in Panchiao City, Taipei County. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

"The DPP has outlined a clear national goal for Taiwan -- namely, to make Taiwan a country for Taiwanese. It has reversed the China-focused mind-set of the former KMT administration," the official said.

"Despite its several adjustments of its party line, this goal remains clear. This explains why the DPP has gained popularity."

The official added that in contrast to the KMT, which prefers to look back to its "glorious" past, and the PFP, which is critical yet presents no policies, the DPP is still part of the hope for Taiwanese because it provides the people with a clear national direction.

" Without the DPP, Taiwan would have no democratic achievements."

-- Chen Shui-bian, DPP chairman

The DPP has served as a driving force behind the country's democratization with its determination to build a nation belonging to Taiwanese.

The party was launched at the Grand Hotel on Sept. 28, 1986 in defiance of martial law, at a meeting of tang-wai, or non-KMT, activists.

Initially intended to nominate candidates for the elections of legislators and national assembly representatives that year, the meeting turned into the party's inaugural event when the agenda was altered soon after discussions began.

The move was not made recklessly. Political dissidents agreed on the need to found a party, leaving timing as the real issue.

"Those who appeared [at the meeting] were clear that the real purpose of that gathering was to found a party," DPP lawmaker Hong Chi-chang (洪奇昌) said.

For that reason, many of the attendees were prepared to be arrested, but none of them were intimidated. They had everything arranged. More people would come to their rescue if comrades were arrested.

Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), one of the leaders at the meeting, insisted on the name "Democratic Progressive Party." He argued that the addition of "Taiwan" to the title would seem territorial and make it difficult to appeal to mainlanders.

Without a clear party organization, the DPP was formally founded when the 132 members present signed its inaugural document. Many of them were family members or defense lawyers of political prisoners and dissidents who had risked their freedom and their lives for democratization.

Although outraged by the formation of the DPP, the KMT did not order any arrests partly because then-president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) had come to realize that it was inevitable that Taiwan would be ruled by Taiwanese and that a crackdown would only lead to further agitation by tang-wai dissidents.

The DPP officially began functioning one-and-a-half months later after Chiang Peng-chien (江鵬堅) was elected as its founding chairman. The party's anti-nuclear position and its resolve to build an independent Taiwan were written into the party's platform at that meeting.

Advocating self-determination, the DPP aimed to end rule by the KMT, which considered Taiwan a steppingstone to an eventual return to China.

Under KMT rule, mainland Chinese accounting for less-than-15 percent of Taiwan's population were in charge of most of the country's resources.

KMT's rule was based on the ROC Constitution enacted in the 1940s, as a constitution for China.

One year after the DPP's founding, the government abolished martial law, thereby legalizing political parties. Institutional and legal reforms spurred by the DPP followed, transforming the nation's political structure, including the first comprehensive parliamentary elections in 1992 and the direct election of the president in 1996.

Along a road fraught with hardship and setbacks, the party achieved its first major electoral success in 1994 when then-DPP lawmaker Chen Shui-bian was elected as Taipei mayor.

The triumph indicated that the DPP had won over the middle class, shaking the impression that it was a party for the under-privileged only.

Chen's four years at the Taipei City Government proved that the DPP could be as effective in government as it was as a radical opposition group.

Fourteen years after its founding, the DPP realized its goal of replacing the KMT in central government, achieving a peaceful transfer of power in the 2000 presidential election.

The DPP had just 1,093 members 16 years ago. That number rose to 145,000 members in 1998 and has since ballooned to 400,000.

In late 1986, the DPP won 12 seats in the legislature, ushering in the two-party era in Taiwan.

In the December election last year, the party secured 87 of the 225 legislative seats, ending the KMT's five-decade grip in the body.

The party's striking performance has been somewhat overshadowed, however, by the alienation of several of its party chairmen.

While Chiang Peng-chien and Huang Hsin-Chieh (黃信介) have passed away, Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) and Shih Ming-te (施明德) defected to the opposition camp over political differences. Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), although still revered by the party, has distanced himself from it and opted to let his political career fade.

Now that the euphoria following the party's electoral victories has faded, the DPP faces pressure to demonstrate its capabilities as a ruling party. Acknowledging that the party's two years in power have left much to be desired, DPP lawmaker Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) says the party lacked a concrete vision for the nation after it gained power.

He said that in the past, the party was struggling for an opportunity to rule, now that the goal has been achieved, the party seemed to have lost its mettle.

The lawmaker also reminded those in power to resist temptation, alluding to several cases in which DPP politicians have been accused of illegally profiting as a result of their position.

Another major challenge, the lawmaker said, is for the party to secure an absolute majority in the legislature, adding that its lack of an absolute majority has made it difficult to execute policies in the face of opposition boycotts.

To expand the party's influence in the legislature, DPP Deputy Secretary-General Michael You (游盈隆) said it needs to try to gain support from mainlanders.

You said the party was established mainly with the support of the grassroots and under-privileged groups in the ethnic Taiwanese community, but the DPP needs to break free from ethnic barriers if it is to flourish in the long run.

You conceded the DPP needs to produce a record of outstanding achievements in government, but he disagreed with criticism that the party has ignored past promises.

He argued the party has never forgotten its pledges and that the issue is how to carry out these ideas, citing the controversy surrounding the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant as an example.

He said the DPP's plan to build a nuclear-free nation has never changed and that it has encountered tremendous obstacles in trying to realize this goal.

"The DPP's problem is not that we've lost our ideas, but how to attain these objectives given political circumstances," he added.

As the DPP is still groping in the dark, officials urged the public to allow the party more time to exhibit its abilities, given that both the ruling and opposition camps are still adapting their new roles because "winning power may prove to have been the easier part, governing the country the more difficult."
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