Realizing its prospects were poor, the PFP has withdrawn en masse from Saturday's mayoral and county elections to cut its losses by stepping aside with humility. Their withdrawal has led to a rare closing of the pan-blue ranks. But in the legislative elections, the closer we get to polling day, the less the KMT and PFP are able to restrain their snail-like tongues. The division between them is growing wider and wider.
Snails have tongues in the shape of a crescent moon, and their teeth grow on their tongues like the teeth on a file. When a snail wants to fill his belly, his method is to "scrape and eat."
The PFP's attempts to eat up the KMT have been just like those of a snail. They scrape and eat. PFP Vice Chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (
Of course, the KMT also has ways of scraping and eating the PFP. KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Lien didn't utter a single harsh word, but his comment was far more vicious than Chang's, for asking the PFP to dissolve itself and return to the fold is surely no different from saying the PFP is worth even less than a rotten apple. At least a rotten apple leads an independent existence.
The KMT is one family under three different roofs. Each of the three brothers looks down on and refuses to submit to the other two. So every time they lift their heads to discuss measures for cooperation, after lowering their heads again, they can't help wondering who will be king of the mountain.
The New Party hates being seen as small and insignificant. Their new print advertisements boast that they are the shrewdest of the parties. The New Party also views itself as having the most orthodox KMT origins. The PFP considers itself the most competent. From the television advertisements of Viola Chen (
The KMT's delusion is more grandiose. It has suddenly discovered, after prolonged self-reflection, that it has all the outstanding characteristics of both the PFP and the New Party. Furthermore, the family estate and the title to the land remain within their grasp and the ancestral tablets are arranged in their halls for them to worship day and night.
No matter how they look at it, they are the eldest brother, and the PFP and New Party should return to the KMT. Thus Lien has spoken of "opening the front door" and of people "being welcome to return home."
The KMT remains the keeper of that front door. But if the PFP and New Party step over the threshold, they will still be the second and third brothers. How could the PFP and New Party justify such roles in their own minds? Why did they bother to fight their way out of the house in the first place?
After Lien and Soong were defeated in the last presidential election, both of them began to recall the dream of the old KMT. They wanted to join hands and cooperate to become an eternal ruling party.
This election is their first test. If this dream can be likened to climbing a ten-story pole, then they remain on the ground, looking up wistfully at the top of the pole.
After the election, the PFP will certainly have a few more seats in the legislature, while the KMT will have somewhat fewer seats, but still more than the PFP. The gap between the two parties will shrink.
As a result, the difficulty of getting one side to bow its head and submit to the role of little brother will only increase. The next test will come in two and a half years (at the next presidential election), perhaps with Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Chen Ro-jinn is a freelance writer.
Translated by Ethan Harkness
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