After more than a month abroad, during which the KMT held its extraordinary National Congress, James Soong
Soong had gone abroad to learn from afar whether the KMT would split into pieces at the congress and whether a group of politicians holding government positions might pick up stakes and swan off to his camp.
But the KMT has succeeded in maintaining a degree of stability for the moment. The PFP's hopes of attracting KMT politicians into its fold on the back of the 4.6 million votes it won in the presidential election and thereby expand its party caucus in the legislature, represented a miscalculation. Rumor has it that only a measly five legislators are contemplating defection to the PFP. Even among them, however, uncertainty is preventing action.
Soong and his PFP will have a bright future only if he can turn the ethereal temple he has built in the air into a real one that lives up to its name -- with a critical mass of worshippers and a constant inflow of incense and money. Otherwise, it will be a small party at best, which will definitely have opportunities to cooperate with other parties but may very well be left out when the time comes to share the booty of power.
To build a temple, or to create a political force, Soong will need cash and votes. Measured in terms of cash, the 4 million-plus votes Soong won pale into insignificance in the face of Lien Chan's
Soong shares much of the savvy and dexterity of the late Kakuei Tanaka
Tanaka was also good at wooing the voter. He would not even let go of a geisha's vote. He would walk to small towns to give speeches on snowy, freezing days, generating shouts of joy and surprise as he appeared, covered in snow, looking like a snowman.
Soong, however, definitely lacks Tanaka's villain-like courage and, perhaps, his foolhardy character. Once, Tanaka offered ?30,000 in transportation fees to a number of politicians. To those who were reluctant to accept it, Tanaka said "A man must have guts. If you haven't been in jail a couple of times, you are not a man." Unable to rebut such challenges to their masculinity, all of them accepted the money.
Former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida
For Soong, the Chung Hsing
Currently, however, Soong does not have a political stage and therefore has to keep holding political side shows, whose propaganda effect is very limited even if he does attract reporters and impress with the power of his oratory.
Soong has been criticizing the new government for inefficiency in its crackdown on "black gold." But his own track record in money politics neutralizes his criticism. Given this state of affairs, it is hard to be optimistic about Soong's ability to attract votes for the PFP's candidates in the legislative, mayoral and county commissioner elections. Soong reaped the largest numbers of votes in 15 counties and cities during the presidential election, but he can't send out 15 clones of himself on the campaign trail.
In fact, the Chung Hsing financial scandal saw the end of Soong's ascendancy on Taiwan's political stage. The KMT's extraordinary National Congress has snatched from under the PFP's feet the opportunity to abandon its fate as a small party.
Unless Soong now has the courage to play political villain, the harsh world of politics will no longer treat him with the kid-gloves it used in the past.
Chen Ro-jinn is a freelance writer.
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