After the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered a major setback in the nine-in-one-elections last year, there have been calls for soul-searching within the party. In this atmosphere, how would the newly elected chairman, Vice President William Lai (賴清德), handle the reins of reform?
Despite other proposed explanations for the DPP’s electoral failures, I find the crux of the problem to be faction-based intraparty conflict. As the factions failed to come together amid infighting, it should be no surprise that DPP supporters failed to see the merits of the party.
The key to reforming the DPP is for the new chairman to form solidarity and build consensus among the factions, and use the party’s regulations as a means of discipline and review.
Regarding recent major events and controversies, the party has to show a united front and voice to bolster supporter confidence so that they can confidently rally behind reforms. Only in this way can the DPP bring Lai’s promise of “starting anew” to pass.
When Lai on Saturday last week visited Tainan, where he had been mayor and a legislator, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲), as well as DPP legislators. held a review meeting with party members. During the meeting, many local members said that certain city councilor and legislators had voted against the party line in the election of city and county council speakers.
It was this lack of unity that led the DPP to become mired in “black gold” corruption, bringing shame to the city, they said. The bluntness of the local members was truly impressive.
Lai said that it did not matter who was the attacker or the attacked, as Tainan was the biggest victim of such infighting.
I hope that Lai will strictly enforce party regulations and unite the DPP. If so, it would be able to reclaim the former glory of Taiwan and really “start anew.”
Yang Nan-lin
Tainan
Lai’s DPP challenge
Congratulations to Vice President William Lai (賴清德) on being elected the new chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Sunday. For his new position, I have a few suggestions.
First, as the number of seats in the legislature determines the passing of important bills on national security and foreign relations, the party needs to be more prudent on its nomination of candidates. Aside from following impartial and transparent procedures, it should also consider polling, as well as candidates’ competency and loyalty. The party should think twice about nominating candidates out for their own personal gain.
Second, just as Lai said in a review meeting, the party should not cut party members slack when they are found to have been involved in criminal activity. If there is any sign of illegal activity, the party should have the judiciary investigate the matter and put guilty members behind bars. I would hope that Lai would keep his campaign promise to remove “black gold” politics from the party, not make any compromises and not let any party member or personnel involved in illegal activity off easily.
Third, cross-strait relations and the development of ties between Taiwan, China and the US are major issues concerning legislative and presidential elections. Lai must integrate different voices and opinions from within and outside the party, and come up with a proposal or an approach that most Taiwanese can agree upon. The party needs to stand its ground on such a proposal, and unite pro-Taiwan forces to steer clear of the pro-China entanglement of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party.
Chi An-hsiu
Taipei
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