In 1995 when the then- Department of Health director-general Chang Po-ya (張博雅) appeared at a campaign rally for KMT legislative nominee Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) in Chiayi City, thousands of supporters cheered his presence. The warm welcome Chang received made the appearance of then-premier Lien Chan (連戰) rather irrelevant. Where did Chang's support come from? Local factions.
Local factions refer to a web of interpersonal networks that function in the local arena. Studies show there are over 100 local factions in Taiwan, primarily built around geographic connections, lineage and marriage. They seek collectively to pursue political and economic resources through elections and, once elected, to distribute those resources among the members of their networks.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
"Politics is about who gives what to whom," said Liao Da-chi (廖達琪), a political scientist at National Sun Yat-Sen University. "Where there is politics, factions will be formed to maximize their interests."
The privileges which the factions so earnestly seek include monopolistic bus routes, easy loans from government-owned banks, public procurement contracts, favorable zoning laws, contracts for public construction projects and tacit permission to run underground facilities such as brothels and gambling parlors.
Chang, daughter of late Chiayi mayor Hsu Shih-hsien (許世賢), is a leader of the politically independent Hsu clan, holds tremendous sway over local politics in Chiayi.
Chang's lending of her prestige to Siew illustrated how ties between political parties and local factions have evolved from their patron-client nature between 1950 to 1990 to a relationship of shared partnership in the last decade.
"With the lifting of a ban on political parties in the late 1980s, the era when the former ruling KMT could order local factions around ended," said former justice minister Liao Cheng-hao (廖正豪). "They can now, as quite a few do, ally with other parties in the pursuit of political and economic privileges."
It is this very evolution, however, along with increasing urbanization and a better-educated electorate, that has eroded their influence.
Early emergence
In 1949, the KMT lost the Chinese civil war and took refuge in Taiwan. In addition to planning its return to China, the KMT faced the more urgent task of governing the island. Partly to achieve this aim, the KMT launched a program to co-opt the local elite and their factions into the party in the hope of lending legitimacy to its rule.
Local factions first emerged after the redrawing of electoral districts in the early 1950s and have since exploited elections to augment their clout. The KMT, while encouraging their existence, prevented their expansion by restricting them from moving beyond local borders to the national stage.
Elections require a campaign vehicle. Familiar with an area's residents, local factions have proven adept at mobilizing voters and have restrained one another's control over local affairs.
Because the KMT nomination virtually guaranteed success, local leaders were encouraged to join the party to win elected office and receive the spoils and patronage that accompanied it.
Lee Chien-hsin (
Chen Chi-chuan (陳啟川), the late millionaire in southern Taiwan, worked as Kaohsiung mayor from 1960 to 1968. His niece Chen Tien-mao (陳田錨) had been a speaker for Kaohsiung City Council for several terms before his recent retirement.
Dividing the spoils
To please competing camps, the KMT in some cases divided positions among the factions. For years in Taoyuan County, for instance, if a candidate from the northern district won the commissioner seat, a deputy from the southern district would be made council speaker.
This arrangement reduced the uncertainty of the power struggle between factions and ensured stability at the local level. It also ensured that no single faction dominated local politics.
Once faction members assumed office, they exploited their connections with the KMT to gain political and economic resources and passed them on to their cliques.
"It is not uncommon for town and city leaders to award public works contracts to crony builders, through bid-rigging, in exchange for a generous kickback," said Chen Tung-sheng (
By dividing spoils, local factions were able to build their own spheres of influence. Over time, a few clans and factions have grown so powerful that they no longer bother to toe the party line.
Gangland and money politics
As Taiwan became increasingly democratic and elections became the avenue through which political power is sought, the number of local factions mushroomed, Chen said.
A 1991 constitutional amendment mandated the retirement of legislators and National Assembly deputies elected in China and direct elections for the two legislative bodies. In 1994, residents of Taipei and Kaohsiung cities were allowed to elect their mayors directly. In 1996, the nation held its first popular presidential polls.
The series of liberal reforms attracted more factions to enter the political arena and intensified competition among them.
To boost their prospects for victory, local factions have often befriended gangsters who have not surprisingly employed violence, as well as traditional vote-buying, to manipulate election outcomes, Liao Cheng-hao said.
Increasing competition has meanwhile driven candidates to pump more money into campaign coffers whose legality has often been called into question.
Over the years, several town chiefs in central Taiwan have been indicted for taking illegal political donations.
Before long, some gangland figures were able to carve out their own political careers.
Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), who is in detention on corruption charges, climbed from gangster to Taichung County council speaker in just a few years. And Yen is just one of many gangster-turned-politicians in Taiwan.
"Their presence in politics poses a great irony to the nation's democratic progress," said Chao Yung-mao (趙永茂), a political scientist who has studied local factions. "In Yunlin County, for instance, about 40 percent of its councilors either have criminal records or ties to underworld organizations."
Waning, but ever-present influence
Paradoxically, as the number of local factions has increased, their influence has waned. This is due in part to an increasing number of people leaving their homes in rural areas to work in the cities, attracted by higher standards of living.
"High mobility and better education make this population less responsive to traditional electioneering," said Wang Yeh-li (王業立), who teaches political science at Tunghai University in Taichung. "That explains why we don't find serious local factions in the cities of Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung."
A vote captain, who asked not to be named, said that he believes fewer than 20 percent of voters would actually cast their ballots according to instructions from a local faction. In the past, that number would have topped 50 percent, he said.
But a total decline among local factions is unlikely, if not impossible, as parties from across the spectrum have all found such interpersonal networks to be a valuable asset at election time.
The DPP is no exception, and the party has sought cooperation with local factions in an attempt to ensure success at the polls on all levels.
Last month, the party dumped its candidate Ho Chia-jong (何嘉榮) in the race for Chiayi County commissioner and recruited Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), an independent lawmaker and leader of the county's Lin faction.
In rural areas where interpersonal bonds carry heavy weight, there is still considerable room for factional maneuvering, said Liao, the Kaohsiung-based scholar.
The demographics of those districts remains rather stable and people aged 60 and older comprise a considerable portion of their population.
Local factions in the counties of Taichung, Yunlin, Chiayi and Kaohsiung have in particular displayed no trepidation when it comes to standing up to their parties.
Huang Pa-yeh (黃八野), who is affiliated with the Red faction in Kaohsiung County, recently broke ranks with the KMT after the party threw its support behind fellow contender Wu Kuang-hsun (吳光訓) in the race for Kaohsiung commissioner.
Wu, a lawmaker and former National Assembly member, has the backing of the White faction led by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Even in constituencies where the clout of local factions has declined, their support can sometimes be enough to tip the balance.
"That explains why many candidates this year are linked to one local faction or another despite calls for reform," Liao Cheng-hao said.
"We have few politicians of vision. It's little wonder an increasing number of people hate politics and refuse to vote," Liao said.
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