Young supporters of former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) were detained for posting the names and photographs of judges and prosecutors believed to be overseeing the Core Pacific City redevelopment corruption case. The supporters should be held responsible for their actions. As for Ko’s successor, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), he should reflect on whether his own comments are provocative and whether his statements might be misunderstood.
Huang needs to apologize to the public and the judiciary. In the article, “Why does sorry seem to be the hardest word?” the late political commentator Nan Fang Shuo (南方朔) wrote that a true apology is more like Lian Po’s (廉頗) humble apology. The Qin Dynasty general “strapped thorny branches to his bare back when issuing an apology.”
Admitting fault is risky to a government or leader. On the one hand, the person to whom the apology is addressed might use it to attack them. On the other hand, people within their own camp might try to rake up old grievances. The consequences could get out of hand, shaking the legitimacy of the apology.
Nevertheless, Nan Fang Shuo recognized the power of apology. He said that in Western theology, a leader’s mistake is like an offense to God, and only by confessing and repenting can they be redeemed and reconciled with their people.
He cited as examples the late South African president Nelson Mandela and the late Czech president Vaclav Havel, who regarded offenders’ apologies as a farewell ceremony to the past. Because of this, the two heads of state were able to lead their countries toward a new future.
Huang is likely to run for New Taipei City mayor or even president. Since Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) has praised him as the fierce — albeit disloyal — ancient warrior Lu Bu (呂布) of the Three Kingdoms era, Huang should display his potential for becoming a world-class warrior like Lu. How hard can an apology be?
Jane Ywe-hwan is an associate professor at National Pingtung University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
What began on Feb. 28 as a military campaign against Iran quickly became the largest energy-supply disruption in modern times. Unlike the oil crises of the 1970s, which stemmed from producer-led embargoes, US President Donald Trump is the first leader in modern history to trigger a cascading global energy crisis through direct military action. In the process, Trump has also laid bare Taiwan’s strategic and economic fragilities, offering Beijing a real-time tutorial in how to exploit them. Repairing the damage to Persian Gulf oil and gas infrastructure could take years, suggesting that elevated energy prices are likely to persist. But the most
In late January, Taiwan’s first indigenous submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), completed its first submerged dive, reaching a depth of roughly 50m during trials in the waters off Kaohsiung. By March, it had managed a fifth dive, still well short of the deep-water and endurance tests required before the navy could accept the vessel. The original delivery deadline of November last year passed months ago. CSBC Corp, Taiwan, the lead contractor, now targets June and the Ministry of National Defense is levying daily penalties for every day the submarine remains unfinished. The Hai Kun was supposed to be
Most schoolchildren learn that the circumference of the Earth is about 40,000km. They do not learn that the global economy depends on just 160 of those kilometers. Blocking two narrow waterways — the Strait of Hormuz and the Taiwan Strait — could send the economy back in time, if not to the Stone Age that US President Donald Trump has been threatening to bomb Iran back to, then at least to the mid-20th century, before the Rolling Stones first hit the airwaves. Over the past month and a half, Iran has turned the Strait of Hormuz, which is about 39km wide at
There is a peculiar kind of political theater unfolding in East Asia — one that would be laughable if its consequences were not so dangerous. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on April 12 returned from Beijing, where she met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and spoke earnestly about preserving “peace” and maintaining the “status quo.” It is a position that sounds responsible, even prudent. It is also a fiction. Taiwan is, by any honest definition, an independent country. It governs itself, defends itself, elects its leaders, and functions as a free and sovereign democracy. Independence is not a
RSS