Last Saturday's elections were one of the hardest fought local government polls ever in Taiwan. They resulted in a crushing defeat for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) dominance in local government has now created a siege situation around the central government. Apart from analyzing subsequent political developments, we might look back over the social impact of political conflict in the last few years from the perspective of "human nature."
After the power transition in 2000, Taiwan entered a phase of "competitive democracy," in which the results of every single central and local government election are seen as providing crucial momentum heading into the next elections. As a result, beginning in 2000, every single election has created a political storm. This situation is not likely to change until after the presidential elections in 2008.
Many people are sick of partisan wrangling at election time. The fierce political races often lead candidates to use whatever means possible to secure their goals, thus revealing the dark, greedy and dangerous elements of human nature.
In addition to vicious competition, the media revels in sensationalism and scandals, presenting the political situation like a soap opera.
This causes people to become disillusioned and disinterested in the political situation, in the belief that it is little more than a nasty power struggle devoid of any traces of the positive side of human nature.
People may wonder whether politics is really so indecent. If so, isn't democracy's release of the spirit of competition akin to opening a Pandora's box, unleashing destructive forces? Is an authoritarian society, in which restraints are imposed on competition, more in line with human nature?
If we take a look at other democratic nations, vigorous political competition and the process of elimination that establishes an ultimate victor does not necessarily have to create an arena for vicious, corrupt and lying politicians to seize power.
Often, the human virtues of trust and justice triumph, and the competition brings forth a good leader.
The history of elections in Taiwan has shown this to be true in many instances. In other words, we can say that the people have a "standard" which allows them to often select the candidate who conforms to the positive side of human nature, which makes such candidates more likely to win.
We should therefore conclude that "politics ultimately reflects human nature."
This is because politics is not merely a calculation of expediency, but also includes projections of affection, identity and trust. Elected political leaders must carry out their political platform in keeping with human nature. Only in this way will they be truly affirmed by society.
I want to propose a slogan to all Taiwanese politicians: "Politics from beginning to end comes from human nature; therefore it should in the end return to human nature." This could serve as a reminder to them to make an effort to be more "human nature-oriented" in governing Taiwan.
Ku Chung-hwa is a professor of sociology at National Chengchi University and chairman of the Taipei Society.
TRANSLATED BY LIN YA-TI
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