Yesterday, President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen's willingness to overturn the election results, while painful, is a display of broadmindedness. If the pan-blue camp accepts his proposal, a second reading of the amendment could be passed next Tuesday. The amended law could then be promulgated by Chen on Wednesday, allowing the recount to go ahead on Thursday.
Unbelievably, the pan-blue camp not only refused to accept the proposal, it accused the pan-green camp of procrastination. Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Understandably, this demand angered the pan-green camp. Following a meeting of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Central Committee on Tuesday, DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (
Cabinet Spokesperson Lin Chia-lung (
The Ketagalan Boulevard protest mobilized by the Lien-Soong alliance is a matter of local, not national, unrest. It is also losing legitimacy as the DPP calls upon its supporters to treat it as an ordinary demonstration and Chen expresses his goodwill toward his opponents. Without further provocation, the crowd will eventually calm down.
Declaring a state of emergency is similar to martial-law rule, a situation the KMT is very familiar with, given it ruled Taiwan for decades under such a law. There is reason to believe that Lien and Soong intend to return the country to the martial-law period by seeking to incite the pan-blue demonstrators and escalate their protests against the government.
In a state of emergency, county commissioners and city mayors have the power to suppress or disperse crowds. In view of the post-election efforts to intensify ethnic divisions, if local leaders were to order the police to take tough measures to dispel crowds, the level of anger and strife would certainly intensify. The majority of the mayors and commissioners are pan-blue members. If pan-blue supporters continue their protests, no one could guarantee that pan-green supporters will not eventually be provoked into a counter-attack. If local governments then ordered a crackdown, the DPP would fall into the trap set by the pan-blue camp.
As long as the confrontation does not subside, Lien and Soong can avoid taking responsibility for their election defeat and avoid internal criticism. Their plan to use the demonstrations to secure power is apparent in the conclusion reached at yesterday's KMT Central Standing Committee meeting. A party chairman who lost two elections would normally step down to allow a new leadership to carry out party reform. But yesterday the committee passed a resolution confirming Lien's leadership. One could almost admire the survivor instinct that has not only enabled Lien to remain at the helm of the KMT but has even seen his power consolidated.
One could admire it, if not for the realization that both Lien and Soong appear willing to sacrifice this nation's stability and international image for the sake of their own vanity and political ambitions.
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