Former transportation and communications minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) have expressed interest in running for Taipei and New Taipei City mayor respectively, but have been stuck in political limbo due to a lack of primaries. Their problem is not whether they could win a primary, it is that they cannot even gain admission to the game.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), whom DPP supporters widely expect to run for Taipei mayor, could eventually be picked by the party, but as the party gradually loses momentum due to a delay in making nominations, Chen said that he no does not want to be a “spare tire.”
Of the local seats up for grabs on Nov. 26, the Taipei and New Taipei mayoral positions are the most important. If the decision about who represents the DPP in those elections is decided by party chairperson President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) alone, without any primaries, would voters accept them? Has the party not sensed the danger here?
The DPP Central Executive Committee last year approved special regulations allowing the party chairperson to nominate mayoral and commissioner candidates in the six special municipalities.
Neither Lin nor Lo voiced objections to the move, so they are partly to blame for their situation, as they failed to protest the deterioration of the party’s traditional democratic principles. They not only hurt their own rights, but those of other party members. They have no leg to stand on with their complaints.
The abolition of primaries leaves no mechanism to ensure fair competition. The 19th-century historian John Dalberg-Acton, better known as Lord Acton said that “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
His remark encapsulates the negative consequences of power without constraint. Apart from corruption, such power inevitably stifles competence. Tsai delaying the direct appointment of mayoral candidates until the last minute is disrespectful to all mayoral hopefuls, and shows contempt for local voters. It is also a lost opportunity for the party to demonstrate decisiveness. This is what incompetence under a dictatorship looks like.
The controversy over the early retirement of former National Police Agency director-general Chen Ja-chin (陳家欽) last month serves as another example. After stepping down, Chen accused Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) of intervening in police personnel affairs. Hsu said that such power belonged to him, and that the former police head’s accusation was laughable.
However, Hsu was not quite right.
Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) once said that the president is in charge of the “eight major intelligence units” through the National Security Bureau of the National Security Council, which reports directly to the Presidential Office.
While the president has that prerogative, respect for the professionals within an agency should be an overriding concern. Without regard for their independence, the National Police Agency would hardly be able to lead a force of 80,000.
Under the Organizational Act of the National Security Bureau (國家安全局組織法), the bureau is responsible for the guidance, coordination and support of the nation’s major intelligence units, including the National Police Agency. How, then, did problems get out of control? It is clearly a result of the president’s incompetence. The next concern is whether the police force of 80,000 will be able to keep it together.
Chin Heng-wei is a political commentator.
Translated by Eddy Chang
A nation has several pillars of national defense, among them are military strength, energy and food security, and national unity. Military strength is very much on the forefront of the debate, while several recent editorials have dealt with energy security. National unity and a sense of shared purpose — especially while a powerful, hostile state is becoming increasingly menacing — are problematic, and would continue to be until the nation’s schizophrenia is properly managed. The controversy over the past few days over former navy lieutenant commander Lu Li-shih’s (呂禮詩) usage of the term “our China” during an interview about his attendance
Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), the son of former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee Politburo member and former Chongqing Municipal Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai (薄熙來), used his British passport to make a low-key entry into Taiwan on a flight originating in Canada. He is set to marry the granddaughter of former political heavyweight Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政), the founder of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital in Yilan County’s Luodong Township (羅東). Bo Xilai is a former high-ranking CCP official who was once a challenger to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the chairmanship of the CCP. That makes Bo Guagua a bona fide “third-generation red”
US president-elect Donald Trump earlier this year accused Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) of “stealing” the US chip business. He did so to have a favorable bargaining chip in negotiations with Taiwan. During his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump demanded that European allies increase their military budgets — especially Germany, where US troops are stationed — and that Japan and South Korea share more of the costs for stationing US troops in their countries. He demanded that rich countries not simply enjoy the “protection” the US has provided since the end of World War II, while being stingy with
Historically, in Taiwan, and in present-day China, many people advocate the idea of a “great Chinese nation.” It is not worth arguing with extremists to say that the so-called “great Chinese nation” is a fabricated political myth rather than an academic term. Rather, they should read the following excerpt from Chinese writer Lin Yutang’s (林語堂) book My Country and My People: “It is also inevitable that I should offend many writers about China, especially my own countrymen and great patriots. These great patriots — I have nothing to do with them, for their god is not my god, and their patriotism is
RSS