Ever since I was a child, I’ve adored watching glove puppetry — also known as budaixi (布袋戲). The moment a puppet appears on stage, combined with the puppeteer’s gestures and voice acting, the character comes to life. To my surprise, I recently saw a similar scene unfold in the Legislative Yuan.
During a question-and-answer session at a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee on Monday, newly sworn in Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀) spoke from the podium while someone beside her repeatedly leaned in to whisper reminders in her ear. Immediately afterward, she began accusing Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) of corruption. The whole scene looked exactly like a glove-puppetry performance.
Glove puppetry has one fundamental rule — the puppeteer’s hand must never be visible. Of course, their hand is inside the puppet, but the audience should only see the puppet itself. Once the hand is exposed, the entire performance is ruined.
That day in the legislature, the situation was exactly the opposite. The legislator at the podium was asking questions, while someone beside her continuously whispered hints. Hoping to earn applause, the puppet did a somersault, but ended up exposing the puppeteer’s hand for all to see.
The scene brought to mind a famous catchphrase from well-known glove puppet character known as the “Black and White Gentleman” (黑白郎君): “Other peoples’ failures are my joy.” Except this time, the performance was poorly executed. The opponent had not even failed yet, but the audience was already amused.
What followed was even more bizarre. The Ministry of Interior has questioned Li’s right to hold office — a matter which requires administrative review — yet Li went on to accuse Liu of corruption, which is a criminal offense. The two issues are entirely different in nature, and not remotely comparable. As the ancients would have said, Li’s comments are “contrary to propriety” — or, to put it more plainly, they make no sense.
During her line of questioning, Li also said that Liu should be the minister of the interior to the nation, not the Democratic Progressive Party. Her statement sounds noble, but immediately begs the question — which “nation” can a political party that repeatedly blocks defense budgets and arms procurements truly claim to serve?
The Legislative Yuan is meant to oversee the government, not serve as a glove-puppetry stage. When questioning is reduced to slogan shouting and baseless accusations replace evidence, all that remains are flashy special effects and a few meaningless somersaults.
There is a puppet on stage, and a hand beneath it. What the puppet says is not important — rather, what we truly need to pay attention to is the hand that controls it.
Chang Shang-yang is a farmer.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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