The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) decision on Thursday to expel five senior members for making critical remarks against the party shows that the specter of its authoritarian past still haunts it, and that the destiny of reforms vowed by KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) might be doomed.
Accused of making remarks on political commentary and doing harm to the party’s image, former legislator Chi Kuo-tung (紀國棟) — who lost his status as a lawmaker after his party membership was revoked — Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元), former Taipei City councilor Yang Shih-chiu (楊實秋), former legislator Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) and alternative Central Committee member Lee Po-jung (李柏融) were expelled from the party.
Chu, who vowed to reform the party when he took over as party chairman earlier in the year, seems to have forgotten his promises, as he even said: “It is unacceptable for party members to wave a blue flag to oppose the blue flag.”
In that statement, he was adapting the phrase “waving a red flag to oppose the red flag,” which refers to those who pretended to adhere to Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) teachings to oust him during the Cultural Revolution.
The reason for revoking their membership seems ridiculous and out-of-place for a party that claims to be democratic in the 21st century; especially when the KMT has just criticized the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of breaching freedom of expression by reporting false accusations against the DPP to the police in the same week the KMT made the decision to expel the five members.
Among the five people who were expelled, Chi — even though he criticized the party on political commentary shows — has always been a loyal member. In fact, he has always defended President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the KMT whenever they were under attack from the public.
During legislative meetings, Chi never hesitated to defend the KMT government’s legislative proposals and voted according to the party caucus’ directions.
By making such a decision, Chu is in no doubt manifesting that he does not like people who speak the truth when the party does something controversial. If he were the emperor in the story The Emperor’s New Clothes, he would likely have the kid who spoke the truth arrested or executed.
Although it is the KMT’s own business, the repercussions might be more serious than causing harm to the party.
What are officials and government employees to do when they hold different ideas about public policy from those at the top? They might choose to keep quiet so they can keep their job.
Even though the KMT administration has less than one year left in power, it could still do much harm to the nation with its wrongful policies, especially considering it has already done a lot of damage.
As most polls show, the KMT is likely to lose next year’s presidential election, and if it keeps the tradition of not leveling criticism after losing the election, it might be difficult for the KMT to return to power in the near future — though it might not be such a bad thing for Taiwan.
The Martial Law period has been over for nearly three decades, but it seems like the KMT still has a long way to go.
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