The scandal surrounding the former first family’s remittances of huge sums of money has shocked the public, the pan-green camp in particular. Although the affair has yet to be tried in court, secretly remitting US$20 million overseas is itself a serious problem. Even former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) confessed that he did something “not permitted by law.” Undoubtedly, this is a major blow for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the pan-green camp.
The scandal has destroyed the nation’s democratic image. It has become yet another tool for China when attacking Taiwan’s democracy, as state media gloat over such misfortune, calling Taiwan-style democracy a failure and saying that the Chinese Communist Party’s one-party dictatorship is the only way to go.
This is also a major blow to the struggle of Taiwanese for the normalization of Taiwan. Ever since former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) announced there was no longer a need to work for independence in 2006, Chinese media have made Chen their principal enemy and condemned his pro-independence line. As a result, most Chinese grind their teeth in anger when talking about him. The scandal is seen as confirmation of China’s bias against Taiwanese independence.
Does this prove that the red-shirts’ anti-Chen campaign was right and the pro-Chen campaign wrong? Not necessarily. The pro-Chen campaign was launched at that time to protect two principles.
First, Taiwan’s democratic constitutional system, under which an elected president cannot be forced out by street demonstrations. When fighting dictatorial governments, street demonstrations, armed struggle and other means are justifiable, but it would be difficult to reverse the damage caused to democracy if an elected president were unseated this way.
Second, the path toward becoming a normal country, which was the goal of Chen’s government. The pan-blue camp is not only opposed to Chen but also to the normalization of Taiwan. Dancing to the pan-blue camp’s tune would be tantamount to blocking progress toward this goal.
It seems that money has a more corrupting effect in Asian democracies than in other regions. After 50 years of democracy, Japan is still haunted by money politics. Several South Korean presidents have been involved in corruption cases. Taiwan may have gone through a power transfer in 2000, but the “black gold” politics of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government has lived on. Working in such a political environment is a bit like walking into a brothel: People will laugh at you if you claim to have done nothing.
Chen’s case still has to be tried. The KMT, meanwhile, has not returned its stolen party assets. The difference between the corruption of DPP officials and that of the KMT is like that between someone guilty of sexual harassment and someone guilty of rape.
Sexual harassment is indeed a serious crime. But the problem arises when those guilty of rape go free while the one guilty of sexual harassment goes to jail. Even more preposterous is that the rapists gang up on the one guilty of the lesser crime. This is where the tragedy of Taiwan lies.
But even so, there is no need for the pan-green camp to cry in grief and blame everyone else. Chen should be responsible for his own actions.
If the pan-green camp panics and chimes in on the pan-blue attacks, it will only prove that the pan-green camp lacks resilience. A heavy blow is cause for deep reflection.
Regardless of whether one is defeated by an enemy or by one’s own making, it is the one who can wipe off the blood and stand up again who is the true hero.
Cao Changqing is a political commentator.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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