Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) and You Ying-lung (游盈隆) announced that they are resigning from their posts in order to run in the year-end legislative elections, vowing to engineer "legislative reforms," saying that they want to take the high road of integrity. But even this truckload of exalted reasoning couldn't prevent the interpretation that this was just another example of Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) crew abandoning ship.
As captain of the ship, Chen has the mandatory moral duty to stay on board, and until now, it seems he is the only one still wearing a forced smile. The first mate, chief engineer and second mate are either indicating they don't want to be vice president, or don't want to be in the Cabinet. These days one is hard-pressed to find a lively, happy DPP official. Executive power has already sunken so low that it doesn't even amount to chicken bones -- it has ceased to be palatable and might as well be tossed out.
The re-emergence of the "coalition Cabinet" issue essentially means conceding the premiership and some Cabinet positions. Under gradual pressure, the earliest and the surest to be replaced will be people like Lo and You -- originally members of Chen's "family."
If the short-term political situation appears critical, then the long term also looks bleak. After power has been newly distributed in the city/county and legislative elections at the end of this year, there is a possibility that the opposition alliance will bring down the president.
Young politicians like Lo and You, who have the faces of 30- or 40-year-olds -- and the political experience of 50-year-olds -- have a lot of days ahead of them. Come to think of it -- what are they going to do when they're in their 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s? If they stick to the small ministries and agencies, they'll end up stuck, which would really be a shame, in the face of all the bitter struggles fought in the past.
The first casualty of all this will be morale within the Executive Yuan. You has pointed out that the opposition is no longer the opposition, the ruling party is no longer the ruling party -- hence the new government's predicament. Although this description has some truth to it, doesn't You's desire to rush forth and save Taiwan effectively announce to the world that the Executive Yuan has no choice but to let itself be oppressed and exploited by legislators? Even Chen Li-an (
Moreover, the recommendation from fellow party members that Lo return to his hometown Miaoli is a convincing one. Since resigning his post to run in legislative elections is a kind of sacrifice ("if I don't go to hell, who will?"), perhaps it's only appro-priate that he play the tragic martyr by running for the Miaoli seat. If Lo is intent on going to hell, why bother choosing the already crowded hell of Taipei City's northern constituency? As for the party's internal struggles, it appears the fuse is lit.
After all has been said and done, Lo and You's resignations will only benefit themselves, not anyone else, not in the least. For an ordinary politician to behave self-servingly -- and dress it up so beautifully -- is enough to make you sick. Political maneuvers in a democracy have always been a case of striving to make beautiful excuses, and producing rhetoric to create moving slogans.
Chen Ro-jinn is a freelance writer.
Translated by Scudder Smith
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