Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), former chairman of Broadcasting Corp of China and leader of the “blue fighters,” recently announced that he had canned his trip to east Africa, and he would stay in Taiwan for the recall vote on Saturday. He added that he hoped “his friends in the blue camp would follow his lead.”
His statement is quite interesting for a few reasons. Jaw had been criticized following media reports that he would be traveling in east Africa during the recall vote. While he decided to stay in Taiwan after drawing a lot of flak, his hesitation says it all: If the level of enthusiasm of a “deep-blue” figure like him has fallen so much, that speaks volumes of the popularity of these Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators among their constituents.
As an old hand, Jaw must have known how prominent being a leader of the “blue fighters” is. If not even he could be bothered to vote, KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) would not be the only casualty; many more would be dethroned, especially “blue fighters” such as KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯). They might seem like a coherent gang, but they flee when they catch a whiff of a threat.
If KMT legislators like Lo are confident about holding on to their seats, Jaw could have just gone on vacation. In other words, Jaw’s reversal must have been informed by Lo’s uncertainty, and he chose to drop his travel plans as a result. In the event of Lo’s defeat, Jaw’s public statement might save him from becoming the whipping boy and a total bankruptcy of his political power within the blue camp.
When Jaw said he hoped “his friends in the blue camp would follow his lead,” he must have known that many of them would not vote; they have already booked their flights and would rather follow their schedules. If that was not the case, then who would he be calling on?
Huang Wei-ping works in public service.
Translated by Cayce Pan
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