Tuesday, May 13, 2008
My quest for the "reasonable" KMT...(Photo:
"Long Live the King" is a common sight here in Thailand) I've been thinking about a recent email conversation with another Taiwan
blogger. I have not asked the author's permission to publish these emails,
so (s)he shall remain anonymous. I did know he's about as blue as they come, and I've read his site for some time. This past week, though, was the first time I actually got around to writing about something he wrote.The subsequent response brought a challenge: give an example of what I would call a "reasonable" blue supporter. That got me. The truth is, and I have commented on Chu's site to this effect as well, most of what I have found is exactly what I've been told I would find: KMT apologetes who don't seem willing to accept the wrongs of their forbearers, while all too readily accepting even the most minor faults of the DPP. I thought for some time about this before replying: Perhaps what I mean is that, yes, a lot of blues are exactly that (people operating on what are false precepts, just as many greens probably have exaggerated impressions of blues -- e.g. that they are all responsible for the ills of the KMT -- but the way some people will attack a blue with vitriol, I feel, only makes them cling more to their beliefs [and vice versa]. I often get the impression in Taiwanese and American politics that the idea of us all being in this together has been totally lost. For my part, though, I'm going to try [to] keep my calm and present my counter arguments the best I can.Looking back at the email, I want to be clear that the first word of the first sentence is "perhaps." I make this note, because I have, for several months now, been asking myself if Ma's election was actually the best outcome, and I don't think I'm operating on false precepts. I am too tired and busy to go into it now in great detail (I'm in Bangkok right now), but I will try to outline it as best I can. I've written extensively of my views on the DPP's failings, the fact that their objectives (Democracy, Justice, Progress, etc.) demand a higher standard, which they have not lived up to. Of course, that doesn't mean that the argument cannot be made that the DPP, since its inception, has conducted itself much better than they KMT. The point is, rather, that the Taiwanese don't necessarily hold the KMT to the lofty goals they once did the DPP, so corruption and lies from the KMT don't weaken the KMT as much as even one rotten DPP politician. Therefore, the fact that the DPP has not proved to be above the sort of vice and ineptitude that Taiwanese are used to from the KMT, one could make the case, undermines the entire party. Remember the bacon debate? Well, I'd just as soon let sleeping dogs do what they do best, but, in the months that have passed, I have not stopped thinking of that debate. I can't stop thinking that what the Taiwanese did was just what people in every other country do when they've lost faith in their politicians: they vote for the party that will get them the best incentives. That's what it's about after all, isn't it? Incentives. The KMT may have torn up the infrastructure the Japanese built up over the fifty years they occupied Taiwan, but will the KMT be the party to build it up again? They likely have the power, connections, and, yes, bacon to get it done. If you lose faith in the DPP's moral high ground, ability to improve Taiwan, and capacity to move Taiwan into a new era of prosperity, then you vote for the party that has the money, the structure, and the connections to do it (rightly or wrongly, justly or injustly). The world is full of people (in Iraq, Russia, etc.) looking nostalgically backwards to the authoritarian rulers who limited their freedoms but, at least, provided them with stability, e.g. a steady job. A prominent international criminal law/human rights professor mentioned to me yesterday a scene from the BBC documentary "No More Mandelas" (which I have not yet watched) where a black man in Soweto looked back at the Apartheid and the Nationalist Party asking, were we better off? Blacks were an oppressed majority then, but, at least, they could put food on the table. The conversation about this documentary took place at the seminar on Transitional Justice that I'm participating in in Bangkok right now. It's striking how often, during the course of the presentations and discussions, I come back to the importance of cooperation, which I realized in the email conversation above was what I was getting at. I don't think the DPP has much of a chance for survival if it doesn't try to maintain the moral high ground, and that has to do largely with whether or not they can bridge the gap between themselves and the KMT. I'm starting to believe more and more that Taiwan has two governments, and many people choose which of those two governments they wish to follow and largely disregard the other. Someone needs to bring about the idea that everyone on that island is "in it" together. Villainization and debasement of the "other side" serves very little purpose as does a salvo of personal attacks. I'm not saying, either, that I've never taken part in this myself. It's quite easy to do, but, more and more, I'm starting to learn that there are better ways to move forward. ...and I'm still looking to have an enlightening conversation with some blues, as I do believe that there are intelligent people on both sides of the divide. |
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