It is everyone’s duty to protect the country. No one is an outsider. Of course, it is the same for political parties. People should make an effort to educate themselves. The government should also support and work with people to restore normalcy in the country. Our country is ours to save.
Our country is facing external threats. Chinese warplanes have made constant incursions around Taiwan. A Chinese-owned cargo vessel allegedly damaged an undersea cable near Taiwan’s northeastern coast earlier this month. In October last year, three Taiwanese members of the I-Kuan Tao (一貫道) religious group were arrested in China.
Our country has also been infiltrated from within. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers, acting as agents of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), are as ferocious as pit bull terriers. They use their legislative power to override the government.
They amended a law to allocate more funding for local governments rather than the central government, leaving the general budget in jeopardy. They passed a bill on pension reform for police to raise the maximum income replacement ratio. They proposed changes to the Chinese spouse law to reduce the period required to obtain Taiwanese citizenship. They raised the threshold to recall elected officials. They proposed budget cuts for national defense. There are countless examples of their attempts to destroy our country.
People have come forward — 3,000 teachers, indigenous youth in Hualien County and the younger generation who grew up in the military dependents’ villages in Taichung. Numerous Taiwanese are furious. Their passion has been ignited.
We, as masters of the country, must exercise our right to recall. Recalling KMT legislators is necessary to prevent Taiwan from being annihilated by the CCP. It is the only way to protect our country. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party is duty-bound to spare no effort to support the mass recall movement.
Recalling KMT legislators has become a national movement. A single spark can start a prairie fire. KMT and TPP lawmakers are plunging the country into chaos by pushing through draconian laws in the legislature. Their vicious acts would only encourage the public to take part in the recall petition.
Residents of Hualien County residents are not afraid of KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁), a longtime “King of Hualien.” Other cities and counties would only see more seething discontent.
The DPP government should support civic groups that organize the recall movement by allowing civil servants to provide assistance at mobile stations and service centers to help people sign recall petitions.
My patriotic friends and I cannot join the petition, as we do not have KMT legislators in our electoral districts. Neither do residents in Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung. This does not make us love Taiwan less than anyone else. We willcontribute our money and labor to supporting the mobile stations, thereby transforming this mass recall movement into something historic and to be proud of within Taiwan’s democratic movement.
Lin Chin-kuo is a business manager at a technology company.
Translated by Fion Khan
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