Bribery, embezzlement, fraud and other types of corruption were deeply entrenched during the 50-year reign of the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration. That system was inherited by President Chen Shui-bian (
It is obvious that one of the reasons for this is the historical and continuing pro-KMT partisanship within the media. The majority of the media confuse fabrication with fact, and present propaganda as news. The people need, but do not demand, better journalism. Unbridled partisanship is at once a cause and an effect of the nation's political irrationality. This letter is to call attention to a less obvious part of the political irrationality.
Throughout most of the 50-year KMT regime, political opposition was not allowed. There was just the KMT party-state government and the people. Any criticism of the government or act of civil disobedience, was the people's criticism and a demonstration of the people's will. As recently as 20 years ago, there was still no opposition organized enough to have a name: there was only the generic term dangwai, meaning "outside of the KMT."
Twenty years ago the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) emerged as the nation's first opposition party. It developed its role as a loyal and responsible opposition, and its candidates won many local offices. In 2000 its candidate, Chen, won the presidential election.
The KMT became an opposition party, but declined the role of a loyal and responsible opposition. Regaining the presidency, no matter what the cost to the country, was its only goal. It sought to frustrate and embarrass the government by a program of obstruction against every government plan, it disabled institutions such as the Control Yuan and it continued to demand that Chen go.
Although the opposition parties' use of their majority in the legislature is a clear expression of organized opposition power, the public seems to view street actions, including the present anti-Chen demonstration, as people's movements.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. From the recruitment of former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) as a figurehead leader, to the permission for weeks of 24-hour occupation of the streets granted by the KMT chairman from his perch in Taipei City Hall, the anti-Chen demonstration expresses the power of an undisciplined and disloyal opposition.
There will be no rhyme or reason to Taiwanese politics until people open their eyes, look at what the opposition parties do and measure the opposition parties by their performance as a loyal and responsible opposition.
Marty Wolff
Taipei County
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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