Independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said the nation needs to break the deadlock between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, otherwise it will never escape the ideological preoccupation with pro-unification or pro-independence and all of the social tensions and divisions this engenders. He said the nation needs a reboot, which should start with Taipei.
This is nothing new. People have heard it many times before, yet the social tensions remain. It is little more than a campaign slogan, used by politicians and political parties to keep their hold on power.
How Ko’s approach to breaking this stand-off differs from previous attempts is what matters.
Ko’s most important core concept is open government. He has promised that the heads of departments and bureaus would be selected by committees made up of city residents, and that major policy would be formed with the participation of civic society.
If Ko is being sincere, then people could expect a future Ko city administration to consist of people of all political persuasions — something that would be entirely unprecedented in Taiwanese politics.
The key value of open government is to return power to ordinary people. People would be choosing a Taipei mayor, and not allowing a group of elites to maintain their monopolization of power and economic interests, as was the case in the past — a system which is in dire need of reform.
With the technology available, direct people power is achievable, and Ko’s idea of open government is one major step on the road to achieving it.
Past experience has taught people that what is said during election campaigns and what happens when a person gets into office are two entirely different things.
People just have to bite the bullet and believe that if they vote for Ko he would actually do something to bring about open government after he gets elected.
If he forgets all of his campaign promises after being elected, the electorate would just have to put up with it, because it is virtually impossible to recall a mayor.
If what Ko said is genuine, then of course people would be more willing to vote for him than for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文), with his image of financial privilege.
However, there is no way of knowing exactly to what extent Ko would be able to implement open government.
Open government is an effective way to cut through the current blue/green opposition, but the electorate wants Ko to have a number of concrete ideas before they commit to giving him their vote.
They need to be assured and believe that their vote means power is returned to the public so that the blue/green opposition is no longer a problem.
There are a number of things that Ko can do.
For example, before the election itself he could announce his own selection for major departmental and bureau heads, or for how the committees to select these heads would be formed.
He could also make a public assurance that major city policy decisions would all be made in line with deliberative democracy, allowing civil society substantive participation in how the city is run, and allowing Taipei residents to have a say in the future of their city, instead of placing this power into the hands of a small elite.
This is surely what Ko was talking about when he said politics in Taiwan needs rebooting, and that the process should start in Taipei.
Allen Houng is a professor at National Yang-Ming University’s Institute of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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