Waiting for Ma’s miracle
It should have dawned on everyone by now that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is fighting a lousy campaign for the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections. I have never seen a political party fumble a national election campaign this badly. The odd thing is that with proper crisis management, it really did not have to be this difficult.
It is worth remembering why Taiwanese voted the KMT, despite its dubious human rights record during the Martial Law era, back into office in 2008: It was not because they were enchanted by the rhetoric of eventual reunification or closer ties with the People’s Republic of China, but because they hoped the party would boost the nation’s economic growth.
The KMT had a decent track record as far as the economy was concerned and many Taiwanese hoped that an absolute majority in the legislature would help facilitate another “Taiwan miracle.” Had annual GDP increased to more than 10 percent, the electorate might have been more willing to overlook closer ties with China as a necessary evil. That did not happen.
With almost nothing to show for his more than three years in office, perhaps President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should have stuck to making empty promises and let his personal charisma do the rest. Instead, the Control Yuan resorted to what amount to scare tactics against little children in the “three little pigs” debacle.
It should be noted that Taiwanese voters have always had a tradition of compassionate voting, so seeing a wealthy political party bullying little children brought back the ugly memories of martial law. The news about the Chinese Communist Party harassing political dissidents did not help things either.
Nevertheless, with pigs flying everywhere, the Control Yuan should have eaten humble pie and apologized to the children and the family they harassed. If they had done that, many moderate voters might have forgiven them, seeing their willingness to admit the error of their ways. However, the KMT’s response fluctuates between arrogance and hypocrisy, from Ma asking supporters to make small donations to the KMT to former premier Hau Pei-tsun’s (郝柏村) claim that 38 years of martial law had been justified.
Obviously, the KMT learned nothing from its eight years in opposition. If Ma fails in his re-election bid, it will not be because the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) fought a good fight, but because all it had to do was capitalize on its opponent’s numerous mistakes.
Chi-Hung Luke Hsieh
California
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