The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the pan-blue camp have each launched propaganda campaigns over the family assets of the other's leader.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) recently released a TV commercial titled "Do you like it? Papa can't afford it." The ad centers on President Chen Shui-bian's (
Chen hails from a poor farmer's family. He relied on his own hard work to overcome the circumstances of his birth and become a head of state. His life story is material for an inspirational book.
Chen's family assets have increased in recent years, but only by a small amount -- a far cry from the wealth amassed by certain individuals and conglomerates by means of financial privilege and insider trading.
The first family's every move is subject to public scrutiny, and people expect the first family to be role models, especially in the education of its children. Unfortunately the first couple violated a big taboo by buying a Jaguar for their son, who had just graduated from college, as a graduation gift.
The commercial's use of Chao Yi-an is the sort of thing that will make most Taiwanese very uncomfortable. First of all, involving an infant in a political struggle seems very low. Second, the ad misrepresents a phrase from Hoklo, more commonly known as Taiwanese. The Taiwanese phrase simply means "precious grandson" and has nothing to do with the precious metal. Many Taiwanese use "golden grandson" to describe their grandsons. Chen's family is no exception.
The DPP quickly responded with a TV commercial titled "Do you like it? Papa will `a' it for you." [Note: "a" is Taiwanese slang word meaning "steal."] The ad describes how the family of KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) amassed great wealth. Lien's grandfather, Lien Heng (連橫) was a poor writer, but the family's fortunes increased as Lien's father, Lien Chen-tung (連震東), took up a string of government posts. The media estimates that the Lien family's wealth amounts to NT$20 billion.
Yesterday, the DPP also released 500,000 copies of a booklet describing how Lien Chen-tung collaborated with businesspeople to strike it rich when he was a civil servant. The booklet shows solid attention to detail based on painstaking research and investigation. It should make good material for future study of corrupt politics in the KMT era.
Under the KMT's rule, there was no differentiation between party coffers and government coffers, and party assets were treated almost like family assets. There have been reports about high-ranking KMT government officials buying real estate in the US.
For example, Allen Soong (
Any veteran journalist will remember how Lien Chan's wife, Lien Fang-yu (
The Liens and Soongs grew rich through KMT corruption. We can only hope that on March 20 Taiwanese do not do not let these thieves, by retaking power, reinstate the impunity they exploited so well in the past.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
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