KMT cannot buy off voters
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is truly incorrigible. Even with recall votes looming, it refuses to confront the real reasons behind public anger. Taiwanese are not demanding free holidays or NT$10,000 handouts. What they want is accountability.
It is not about more benefits. It is about better conduct.
Like a wronged partner in a broken relationship, the public wants a clean break — not more gifts. You do not save a relationship by offering a luxury handbag or a car. You save it — if at all — by admitting your mistakes, apologizing sincerely and promising to change. Even then, forgiveness is not guaranteed.
Has the KMT done that? Has it admitted its reckless power grabs in the Legislative Yuan? Its budget-slashing sabotage? More recently, the alleged signature forgery scandals? How about its relentless efforts to please Beijing, while weakening Taiwan’s institutions?
No. Instead, it mimics the language of its critics — “resilience,” “security,” “livelihood” — as if voters have forgotten what came before.
So, to voters across the country: Do not be sidetracked. Such last-minute giveaways are not reforms — they are distractions, bread and circuses. The recall campaigns were born from real grievances. Finish what you started. Vote them out — and then vote the right ones in.
John Cheng
Taichung
KMT underestimates voters
Recently, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators and officials have openly spread rhetoric and exhibited behavior toward the citizen-led mass recall movement that are contemptuous, insulting, slanderous and misleading.
KMT legislators have falsely accused recall campaigners as being a fraud ring and a group of deceitful scammers. The KMT lawmakers have insulted members of the movement, calling them “social outcasts,” even likening the group to dog feces.
Senior KMT members have claimed that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) initiated the recall, smearing it as “a disgrace to democracy.” Some pan-blue academics have written articles calling upon President William Lai (賴清德) to speak out, saying that just one statement from Lai would be enough to extinguish the recall flames and stop “bluebird” activists young and old from continuing their charade.
The KMT’s language is not only insulting, its accusations are completely baseless. KMT officials have smeared the recall movement as being a “disgrace to democracy,” but that is far from the truth. The recall movement is being held in accordance with the democratic system, as the right to recall is granted to citizens under Article 17 of the Constitution. It should be regarded as a beacon of our democracy, not a disgrace.
Some KMT legislators pride themselves on being among the top 1 percent of Taiwan’s talent, claiming to speak with a degree of logic and sense of shame. Do these legislators feel remotely ashamed of their party’s slanderous behavior? Has their political performance since taking office one year ago demonstrated any degree of logical thinking?
In contrast, the members of the civil groups who launched the mass recall movement come from all walks of life. When interviewed, their leaders and spokespersons speak eloquently about the current political situation, demonstrating clear and coherent logical thinking.
When encountering problems, they earnestly conduct research, study relevant regulations or consult the appropriate authorities. When faced with difficulties, they form strategies and seek out solutions. When local authorities hold different views, they communicate rationally and argue their case using evidence and reason.
Civic groups have exhibited positive attitudes, behavior and logic worthy of admiration. According to the research of renowned political scientists Larry Diamond — a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University — Juan Linz and Seymour Martin Lipset, civil society contributed significantly to Taiwan’s democratic transition and subsequent democratic consolidation.
The KMT’s main issue is its continued refusal to believe that the mass recall is a grassroots, citizen-led movement. The party’s collective defamatory remarks against recall groups are full of contempt, with the insults directed at 99 percent of the movement’s participants. KMT officials mistakenly regard citizens as mere peasants in an era of imperial or authoritarian rule, demonstrating a severe lack of democratic literacy and posing a major obstacle to the consolidation of Taiwan’s democracy.
Tao Cheng-sheng
Taipei
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