Supporters of James Soong (宋楚瑜), enraged by the election results, have acted in a violent and aggressive manner. Their demonstration was an illegal assembly which should have been dealt with as a riot situation.
However, instead of calming the crowd, Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) further instigated fury and anger by appearing before this illegal assembly.
As the mayor of Taipei, Ma should represent all residents of Taipei, regardless of party distinction. By appearing before the mob, is he validating this assembly?
In the eyes of the international community, the protesters are just sore losers. The election was won fairly by the DPP and must stand if we are to be considered a true democracy.
If it were the DPP who assembled illegally, would we have another 2-28 incident?
Simon Chang
Taipei
Time to move forward
Watching news of the near bedlam occurring outside the KMT headquarters (國民黨中央黨部) in Taipei, I cannot help but think of Thomas Hardy's famous line: "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble bliss." But the artificial distance created by watching the events unfold on television does little to lessen the heaviness weighing on my heart and mind. A few days before the election, I wrote a letter to several individuals noting that "regardless of the outcome on March 18, I expect the people to embrace the results. At the end of the day, we must be content to accept that in a democracy, people will only get as much as they deserve. Though there will remain too, those who always will believe that the people deserve better. May there be more of them." I am encouraged by people's passion for democracy and their dedication to their preferred candidate. But passion must be supported by reason. And there is no reason to the violence witnessed these days. Democracy requires proper process and procedure. It is a gross mistake to seek immediate victory in the battle only to lose sight of the longer war. We need reason to prevail, so that we may see a return to normalcy, and move forward constructively to address other reforms and pressing matters (the victims of the 921 earthquake are still in dire need of assistance, for example) that also require the immediate attention of our government, and our society. Name withheld
Taipei What about the flag? As an attentive foreign observer of Taiwan's election, a relevant detail came up in a discussion: what will happen with Taiwan's national flag, since it contains the KMT flag? Should it change, as power is peacefully transferred from the KMT to the DPP? It seems that the issue was not addressed at all during the campaign. In my opinion, the flag should not change, as it still stands as a symbol of democracy and defiance, ever since Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) first drew it. Moreover, even as this election stands as a sound defeat for the KMT, it also stands as a historic victory for the original KMT values, Sun's "three principles." I believe President-elect Chen has a strong sense that this is so, as it seems from the quotes you published from him in the aftermath of his victory: "People showed their determination to support democracy by their votes," "It is a victory for people of Taiwan and for democracy" and ``We have realized our forefathers' dreams for democracy. Taiwan shall have its first peaceful transfer of power.'' Guillermo Aveledo
Caracas, Venezuela For China, Taiwan is key It seems that, no matter how liberal or "localized" Chen Shui-Bian's (陳水扁) views are, he and many of his supporters do not acknowledge a bigger picture with respect to China. China wants to restore the face it lost to the West in the middle of the 19th century and then to Japan. It cannot do that as long as Taiwan is independent and has good relations with the US and Japan. Second, the strategic importance of Taiwan has been recognized by Beijing since at least the 1850s and now China wants to restore Taiwan as an integral part of its coastal defense system. Third, Taiwan obstructs China from expanding its control of the Western Pacific. Fourth, China wants to enter the world economic community on its own terms, not on terms dictated by Washington, New York, London or Tokyo. It can achieve this much more easily with Taiwan, like Hong Kong, inside its sphere of influence. In the bigger picture Taiwan becomes even more important than it is now. It is like a small wedge that can split huge logs or a small lever that can move huge weights. David Cornberg
Taipei
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