As Taiwan hurtles toward the local elections next month, political mudslinging has come to a fever pitch, with elitism being one of the latest topics.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Ann Kao (高虹安), the party’s Hsinchu mayoral candidate, made headlines for her supercilious remark that she is not like “someone” who graduated from the evening division of Chung Hua University and later needed to “inflate” himself with a National Taiwan University (NTU) master’s degree, an apparent reference to former Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), who had bowed out of the race amid allegations of plagiarism.
Her remark does not fall far from the TPP tree on elitism. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the TPP’s chairman, often flaunts his IQ of 157 and his former position as an NTU professor, daring anyone to challenge him in a contest of erudition.
In another dustup, Chinese Nationalist Party Legislator (KMT) Lee De-wei (李德維), spokesman for KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), who is a candidate for Taipei mayor, made the patronizing remark that “a dentist should not be considered a real doctor,” a comment meant to undermine Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), the Democratic Progressive Party’s mayoral candidate and former minister of health and welfare.
Unlike Ko, Kao and Lee have apologized and backed away from their offensive remarks, although many consider the remarks to have come from their hearts.
What these elitist remarks show is that the specter of elitism and authoritarianism still haunts Taiwan, a nation of freedom and democracy.
The remarks might seem like an innocent adolescent game in which people rate themselves based on how they stack up against others in terms of appearance or academic performance. However, they are not “slips of the tongue,” but show that some politicians pride themselves on having superior or more legitimate identities than their opponents.
The candidates often draw emphasis to labels such as “IQ 157,” “NTU College of Medicine” or “a member of the Phi Tau Phi Scholastic Honor Society” to underscore their exceptionality, showing that they are above others when vying for the same position. As for legitimacy, the notion that “only medical doctors are real doctors” implies that there is hierarchy when it comes to occupation, ranking and social status. These archaic, elitist values are the legacy of the KMT’s past autocratic rule.
Politicians who cling to elitism likely consider the public as beneath them, leading to thinking that everyone should obey them as well. Their concern for the people and their policy programs come to be seen as “gifts” to the lowly masses. As politics around the world shows, anti-elitism is more than a slogan — it has transformed into an ideology in which power is removed from elites and is placed in the hands of voters. The phenomenon has shown that outstanding educational credentials are quickly losing esteem with voters, and the populace longs for candidates with relatable life experiences and grassroots connections.
As the local elections near, voters should give careful scrutiny to each candidate’s personality and words to ensure that they do not afflict Taiwan’s democracy with an elitist ideology. Taiwanese need to ensure that the movers and shakers they put in office truly work for the people.
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