The disclosure of the large sums of money held in the accounts of independent presidential candidate James Soong's (宋楚瑜) son, sister-in-law and nephew in law have shocked the entire island and unleashed a stream of commentary in the media that has revealed a lot about Taiwan's social values. Soong said that he was the candidate whose probity was being challenged and asked the media not to bother his family. While they agreed that Soong should tell the public the truth, some media editorials suggested that it was immoral to investigate the families of political figures.
Their self-righteousness about leaving politicians' families alone may appear morally upright, but it actually blunts the media's ability to ferret out the truth.
The Soong financial scandal should remind Taiwanese to be on their guard. Many politicians are masters in telling lies. Take Soong for example. On one hand, he pretends to be a caring father making the media and the public feel guilty about invading his family's privacy; on the other hand, he uses his family shamelessly as tools in perpetrating his misconduct.
Soong, unlike KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan (連戰), has always claimed himself clean and free from financial scandals. He has characterized his battle with Lien as "the poor verses the rich," but now his family is found to have huge sums of money in their accounts. It may sound decent to consider peeping into political figures' privacy taboo, but this viewpoint is a mistake.
Muckraking may stink. However, is it better and safer to cover up a scandal? Dirty money politics has been operating in Taiwan for decades. Compared with the stink of political corruption that mars the island, the current muckraking is sweeter.
Actually without the election the media and politicians' zeal for muck-raking would probably flag pretty quickly. Without the election, a kind of balance of terror exists, where people refrain from attacking each other for fear their own dirty laundry will receive a public washing. In this atmosphere politicians live in peace with each other and scandals go unearthed.
The Soong affair reminds us that our inspection of political figures needs to go further into their families. This is not muck-raking but a required procedure to straighten out Taiwan's politics.
Chen Ro-jinn is a freelance writer.
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