During Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) "thanksgiving" tour late last month, he encouraged KMT members to be woodpeckers -- those who criticize the party and favor reform.
As a "woodpecker," I targeted the "parasites," and the "lazy worms" of the party, meaning Lien himself, but got abuse in return.
I suddenly realized that the KMT had set a trap for its young members who urgently sought reform in order to isolate or even destroy them.
I subsequently read the biography of the statesman Fan Chung-yan (范仲淹) of the Northern Sung dynasty.
In it, the poet Mei Yao-chen (梅堯臣) describes Fan as a woodpecker, who in an effort to rid a garden of worms, annoys the gardener and is killed.
I felt deeply depressed, for I felt my situation was similar to this story.
Shortly after reading this biography, I was uncertain whether to stay in the party. [Editor's note: The author was recently stripped of his KMT party membership as punishment for "rhetoric and conduct that severely violated party protocol"].
In the depths of my depression, fate led me to Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文).
He felt concern for my situation, and told me former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) wished to meet me. Fate can be a heavy burden.
While the KMT was ignoring me, Huang and Lee extended their hand in friendship.
What was a relative youngster like myself supposed to feel? The KMT would not rest until it destroyed my political career, and by meeting with Lee I would simply be doing as they expected.
But it was a chance to meet a man who had led Taiwan for 12 years and I was in no position to turn him down.
Meeting Lee was quite an experience, and although I am a child compared to the former president, we spoke freely about all the aspects of the country's political situation.
He also told me he hoped to see the day when Taiwan was a mature democracy, where all political parties would propose policies based on a Taiwanese identity.
He frequently spoke of the development of Taiwan's sovereignty and hoped that a "Taiwan consciousness" could exist in at least 75 percent of the population.
He emphasized that identifying with Taiwan was to know "who you were" and "what sort of place Taiwan is."
Lee has been called "Mr Democracy" in the foreign media and the name fits him.
I am not only grateful that he was willing to share his know-ledge with me, but I hope I can repay him by taking the road that leads to democratic reform.
The hardships to be met on this road will be significantly more difficult than those I experienced during reform discussions within the KMT. It will be hard, but in the journey I hope to attain courage and insight.
Karma give us the opportunity to learn, and I have had the good fortune to walk away from the oppressive KMT, taking a path that leads from hardship to even greater hardship, but I feel that it is a blessing.
I also hope that in making this choice I do not hurt those who have supported me.
I know that in making this choice I have turned from my original path, but the motivation to achieve my goals have not wavered.
I remain dedicated to this land and its people.
Chiu Teh-hung is the Miaoli County Council chief of staff for the vice speaker and a former member of the KMT.
Translated by Ian Bartholomew
US$18.278 billion is a simple dollar figure; one that’s illustrative of the first Trump administration’s defense commitment to Taiwan. But what does Donald Trump care for money? During President Trump’s first term, the US defense department approved gross sales of “defense articles and services” to Taiwan of over US$18 billion. In September, the US-Taiwan Business Council compared Trump’s figure to the other four presidential administrations since 1993: President Clinton approved a total of US$8.702 billion from 1993 through 2000. President George W. Bush approved US$15.614 billion in eight years. This total would have been significantly greater had Taiwan’s Kuomintang-controlled Legislative Yuan been cooperative. During
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in recent days was the focus of the media due to his role in arranging a Chinese “student” group to visit Taiwan. While his team defends the visit as friendly, civilized and apolitical, the general impression is that it was a political stunt orchestrated as part of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, as its members were mainly young communists or university graduates who speak of a future of a unified country. While Ma lived in Taiwan almost his entire life — except during his early childhood in Hong Kong and student years in the US —
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on Monday unilaterally passed a preliminary review of proposed amendments to the Public Officers Election and Recall Act (公職人員選罷法) in just one minute, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, government officials and the media were locked out. The hasty and discourteous move — the doors of the Internal Administration Committee chamber were locked and sealed with plastic wrap before the preliminary review meeting began — was a great setback for Taiwan’s democracy. Without any legislative discussion or public witnesses, KMT Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), the committee’s convener, began the meeting at 9am and announced passage of the
In response to a failure to understand the “good intentions” behind the use of the term “motherland,” a professor from China’s Fudan University recklessly claimed that Taiwan used to be a colony, so all it needs is a “good beating.” Such logic is risible. The Central Plains people in China were once colonized by the Mongolians, the Manchus and other foreign peoples — does that mean they also deserve a “good beating?” According to the professor, having been ruled by the Cheng Dynasty — named after its founder, Ming-loyalist Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功, also known as Koxinga) — as the Kingdom of Tungning,
RSS