Some people sincerely want what is best for Taiwan, but they do not have a good understanding of what the phrase “political accountability” means.
They keep criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), saying that the party has no future and that it is competing with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in a race to the bottom.
Others lean toward the KMT, but criticize the party for competing with the DPP in a race to the bottom.
This talk about a race to the bottom is a non-issue. Anyone who prefers the KMT and keeps criticizing the DPP because they have decided it is a rotten party is implying that both parties are equally rotten.
This matches the KMT strategy of tricking swing voters into voting for the party by saying that “there’s no difference, we’re all the same anyway” in the hope that it will make them feel that it makes sense to vote for the KMT.
The KMT already owns the patent for rotten political parties. Apart from running a tight race with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the KMT would beat any political party in a democracy hands down.
There is no need for the DPP to engage in a race to the bottom with the KMT, nor will it do so. The KMT keeps proving that it is the most rotten of them all.
The rot first started in ministries and government agencies, one after another, so that the whole place is now rotten through and through.
The source of this rot lies with inferior leaders and supporters: Two ministers have resigned due to a lack of academic ethics; a shameless official who was fired was allowed to take up a position above his previous rank in a mad rush for his retirement pension; shameless and inferior individuals have been nominated for seats on the Control Yuan; innumerable people of the same ilk as former Cabinet secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) have used their position and power to solicit money; and convicted politicians or politicians charged with a crime are allowed to run for election.
The KMT is in a league of its own and is thus relegated to holding internal races to the bottom and competitions over who has the best connections.
This is the interaction between cause and effect that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) spoke of recently.
Ma is a problematic individual, but he still likes to find copies of himself to work for him.
The central government uses “famous” academics who like to exaggerate their importance and pander to Ma, with the result that it is now full of people known for nothing in particular except for excelling at using underhanded methods to improve their name and fame.
In local elections, whoever gets the vote is boss, regardless of whether they are part of organized crime, pro-Chinese or slow-witted.
Anyone who is loyal to the party-state and helps guarantee its continued hold on power will get a piece of the action.
If a scandal was to be revealed, anything would be done to try to cover it up and protect the person in question, and if that does not work, they are cut loose and set adrift.
The KMT’s local pashas compete in wasting money, lacking standards and being close to Ma.
They live by the motto that “if you’re well connected, nothing else matters.”
Their relationship with Ma is the sole criterion for determining the political future of the KMT’s top officials.
This is the standard that the KMT applies in its own private race to the bottom.
James Wang is a media commentator.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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