KMT manipulating tragedy
Ku Hung-ming (辜鴻銘) thought there was no better word in English than “knave” to portray recreants in society.
Today, there are three figures in Taiwan who fit this description: President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) and former KMT legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅).
They have implicated themselves as incorrigible knaves in their reactions to the senseless stabbings in Taipei’s Mass Rapid Transit system by a university student.
While Taiwan was in shock and mourning, these three knaves saw the macaber tragedy as an opportunity for personal vendettas.
Chiu posted on Facebook the insidious comment that the incident was associated with the Sunflower movement.
Tsai called the perpetrator a “university student mobster,” insinuating a link between the Sunflower activists and the stabbings.
Ma issued an edict that the most rigorous measures must be taken to get to the bottom of the crime, hinting at a conspiracy behind the killings.
However, the suspect’s father has since said that the 21-year-old student spent most of his time playing online games filled with blood and gore.
In essence, Ma, not unlike Tsai and Chiu, wants the public to assume there is a connection between the Sunflower movement and the MRT tragedy.
Ma, Tsai and Chiu have often condemned the Sunflower activists as a mob. The MRT tragedy was a break for them to avenge the shame and insults that they have endured.
First, the incident has the potential to stir up the public’s memory of the Sunflower’s’ occupation of the legislature and the subsequent confrontations with police.
Second, it adds momentum to their appeal for law and order, hence unjustified crime bills with severe and swift penalties are to be drafted and passed in the legislature — exactly what Tsai is doing at the moment.
Third, the compounded effect of the public’s sentiment and the crime bills to be passed will once and for all condemn and outlaw any future student movements as violent activities.
These diabolical schemes underscore a wanton disregard of the public’s interests by diverting attention from the real problems.
Taiwanese society, instead of looking for conspiracies, should find the answers lodged in the dynamics between human behavior and violent online games.
It is an issue that the global society at large must consider honestly and rationally.
Politicians like Ma, Tsai and Chiu are two-faced and want nothing to do with honesty and rationality.
However, an alienated soul who finds solace online is nevertheless another human being who needs love and attention. It is a common burden we all share as children and parents amid today’s cybermania. We cannot dispense with it by making scapegoats of the Sunflowers.
If we do, we are not only foolish, but just as knavish as Ma, Tsai and Chiu.
Yang Chunhui
Salt Lake City, Utah
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