Wake up from defeat
The general of a defeated army cannot count himself brave. If the defeated general does not know how he lost the battle, then he will soon be relegated to history. We all learn to grow from failure.
China’s cyberattacks worked this time, causing great concern among the international community.
Now, it knows how to intervene in any election in Taiwan. It will be critical to see how the US and Japan respond.
The nine-in-one elections on Nov. 24 — known as the “Taiwanese political super bowl 2018” — attracted worldwide attention, but ended up in a landslide defeat for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which saw its numbers drop from 13 to six among the 22 city mayors and county commissioners nationwide. They even lost Kaohsiung and Taichung, two special municipalities.
DPP Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), who has extensive administrative experience, was supported by former Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), but lost to the KMT’s Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), while outgoing Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), who has outstanding administrative achievements, lost to Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕).
Why did they lose? Did the KMT’s candidates have better campaign platforms?
Han said no politics would be allowed in Kaohsiung, only economics — promoting tourism by building a Ferris wheel and accepting the “1992 consensus.”
No politics? Ironically, Han’s first announcement after the election was to form a cross-strait working committee. Isn’t that politics?
Are such policies enough to grant him victory in the mayoral election? No, the KMT lost power in the local election four years ago, and the presidential and legislative election two years ago, so they did not accomplish anything since then.
But why could it so easily defeat the DPP? It was because voters were disappointed in the central government.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took power in 2016, she appointed Lin Chuan (林全) to form a so-called “old blue-man Cabinet.”
Well, it was a big joke to party politics. Voters elected the DPP to run national affairs, so the party should have had its own officials run business. How could Tsai rely on KMT politicians?
To discourage voters from casting votes on referendum No. 13: using “Taiwan” for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics team, the Central Election Commission set two stages to cast ballots at polling stations.
It is outrageous and ridiculous that some voters had to wait more than three hours in line to cast their votes. It seems that the DPP administration has no experience in running elections.
The name-change referendum was defeated 4,763,086 to 5,774,556 and Taiwanese athletes will still compete under the name “Chinese Taipei,” meaning the Chinese exiled government in Taipei.
Does that mean Taiwan is part of China from now on? Of course not. China expressed deep concern about the referendum before the election, the KMT opposed it and the DPP suppressed it.
The Chinese Olympics Committee even misled the public that if it passed, the admission of Taiwanese athletes to the Olympics would be canceled. That was not true.
While the whole world recognizes us as Taiwan, we desperately want to call ourselves Chinese Taipei.
Well, the election is over. What message has been delivered and heard? The voters were certainly unhappy with the DPP administration, but has the DPP heard? Will it commit to correcting its errors, defects and mistakes?
If the DPP knows only to defend Chinese Taipei, then why do voters need it? The KMT does a better job of flattering China.
What have we learned from the elections? Voters loudly said “no” to the DPP. Why? Do people not know where President Tsai is heading? She insists on maintaining the “status quo,” but which “status quo”? Chinese Taipei?
Her administration suppressed referendum No. 13, which confused the international community.
The DPP needs a fundamental change, to be responsible for party politics, to reform the administrative Cabinet, to reshuffle not only the party, but also the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan and to call a national forum to clarify the “status quo.” Is Taiwan part of China? It needs to clearly outline Taiwan’s identity.
Water can carry boats, but it can topple them, too. These elections clearly demonstrated the power Taiwanese can wield at the ballot box. China is far behind it.
Yes, President Tsai needs to readjust herself and her policies. Reform means to have the right people to do the right thing and do it right. Wake up from defeat.
If the DPP takes no action to correct its mistakes, it will definitely be swept into history in 2020.
Politics is cruel and ruthless. The KMT could regain power and Tsai would be in as much trouble as former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
John Hsieh
Hayward, California
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