On a weekend night, a tea house in Taipei witnessed Taiwan's democratic progress, as it hosted a seminar on the student movement. Among the organizers were old people who took part in the Diaoyutai Movement more than three decades ago. Other leading speakers at the seminar were those who fought for democracy on campus around the time martial law was about to be lifted. They were activists who went to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to join the "wild lily" student movement. A large audience of youngsters in their twenties thronged the venue.
In a sincere tone, the "wild lily generation" told the story of their participation in the sudent movement. Surprisingly, many still harped on the political line of that year and their factional strifes. At the seminar, many people born after 1980 did not have an understanding of past clashes. Neither were they much insterested in them.
This group of youths has just witnessed the tightest electoral race in Taiwan's history, witnessed the nation's first assassanation attempt on a democratically-elected head of state and been baptized by the mass movement of thousands of people. They also saw the most violent street clashes in 10 years. Amid these social shocks, these youngsters are eager to figure out what is happening in Taiwan. They want to express their own opinion and their discontent. They want to play a role in deciding the future of Taiwan.
Perhaps Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
In fact, when students took a stroll at the square, they saw the ghost of party power struggles drift and linger in the square. They left with contempt -- a reason why the "student movement" this time failed to develop. However, they will not simply join the green camp. These youths have seen the whole array of corruption behind the scenes, watched the power conflicts and heard the corny slogans. They have seen a side of the old generation that can be despised and transcended.
Do not take these youths as innocent children. They can see and will learn to play the power game. Or maybe they feel they have already seen through the stunt of those power-grabbers within the institutions. Why not play the game by themselves? Why should they be led by the older generation? Without the burden those adults carry within the system, they might have bolder imaginations and stronger abilities to put their ideas into practice.
The old generation is tied to its past. Thirty years ago, some of them sacrificed themselves and suffered overseas, for the sake of "Chinese nationalism" or the independence of Taiwan. Then the next generation who had experienced the Formosa Incident and the lifting of Martial Law are just about to realize their ideals and have buried their heads in their careers.
This generation may therefore ignore that the new generation is formulating new social and political discourses, and may replace their elders. In less than 10 years, those KMT elites who had just come home to join the party's "reform to protect Taiwan" campaign after receiving their degrees overseas were quickly challenged.
This time, the social upheaval in Taiwan almost announces the end to the era of the political elites of Lien and Soong's generation. Even though the social climate was conducive for Lien and Soong to play key roles on the stage of history, they did not even know how to lead a mass protest, but reacted in the framework of inter-party struggle. The wheel of history has rumbled on, and it is the turn of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) elites in their 40s or 50s led by Chen.
The challenge for the DPP comes from the new generation. What the new generation is asking for is social justice and fairness, which the old-time fighters in democracy versus authoritarianism duel may not be able to respond.
For instance, while Chen has constantly borne in mind his historic responsibility to write a new constitution, does the new generation care about the meaning of independent sovereignty the new constutition symbolizes? Or do they care more about how the new constutition will embody equality and justice among social classes, ethnic groups and communities?
The challenge for the DPP is not from the KMT and PFP, but from the countless youths in the new generation who have been enlightened and baptized by this presidential election.
Ku Er-teh is a freelance writer.
Translated by Wang Hsiao-wen
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