Wed, Jun 28, 2000 page8

• The official government honeymoon has ended

  • By Sun Ching-yu 孫慶餘
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  Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) recently held a news conference to mark his first month in office, keeping everyone happy.

  During the news conference, he did not utter one bad word about the other side of the Taiwan Strait, opposition parties nor various sectors of society. We can say it was a "perfect performance."

  However, because it was so overly perfect, the news conference marked the end of his honeymoon in office.

  After his election victory, John F. Kennedy sought the advice of his Democratic predecessor, President Harry Truman, who told him: "You should stop campaigning once you've won the election and focus on governance. This is the best way to campaign."

  However, after his election victory, Chen kept running around visiting people. He ran around attending graduation ceremonies at various schools after his inauguration. Everyone has witnessed traces of his continued election campaign.

  Chen has maneuvered "media politics" to a state-of-the-art level. However, the role of the ruling party, as well as relations between the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan are mired in chaos.

  Chen used his news conference to once again emphasize that he wanted to be "a president for 100 percent of the elector-ate," " a president for all the people," "with no individual bias or partisan considerations."

  However, if the new government ignores the most important part of democracy -- political parties -- then its future will certainly be bumpy.

  In fact, Chen not only announced that he would "drop out of party activities if elected," he also said at the news conference that a "government for all the people" is better than a coalition government. In other words, "using talent across party lines" is better than having parties nominate their Cabinet members. This "government for all the people" model -- apart from strengthening the president's ubiquitous power -- may be a major disaster for party-to-party interaction.

  The disaster is already underway. According to Chen's definition, the DPP is not the ruling party nor can its chairman simultaneously hold the premier's post. The party's headquarters and its legislative caucus thus become "outsiders" in the regime. The recent chaos at the Legislative Yuan -- as well as the unrestrained "comments" from the executive branch -- have much to do with the absence of a "ruling party" and unanimous intra-party action. When party politics are gone, what follows is members of the ruling party each going his own way and opposition parties setting up alliances against it. It will be difficult for the "government for all the people" not to be a disaster.

  The passage of legislations to cut down work hours was a loss for both the executive and legislative branches, as well as for both labor and capital. Other legislation, such as those on subsidies for senior citizens and two-day weekends, have generated vicious partisan competition, sending Taiwan politics into a state of anarchy.

  Without party politics, there can be no stable democratic politics. The absence of a ruling party means the absence of party politics. An elected president who negates party politics will invariably create an "empty power orbit." In a democracy, the leader has power because his party cohorts do. Once a ruling party is absent from democratic politics, party colleagues become outsiders. The ending of this will be an "empty power orbit." When Chen embarks on media politics like a raging fire and takes "a government for all the people" as a recipe for all success, we know the new government's honeymoon is over.

  Sun Ching-yu is a freelance columnist.
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