One of the things that makes politics here so fascinating is the way individual politicians change color faster than a chameleon flung through a paint shop. The recent experience of KMT spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) is a case in point. Last week she resigned after criticism from the DPP and from within the KMT.Cheng submitted her resignation to KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
馬英九 ) in the wake of criticism from the pan-green camp that Ma had turned a blind eye to Cheng living in an apartment provided by business tycoon Chou Hsin-yi (周信義 ), rent free, for the past two years.Media interest in Cheng escalated after the Chinese-language Next Magazine carried a story that questioned Cheng's integrity for accepting Chou's patronage and accused her of often playing hooky from work to go shopping.
The thing that caught my eye was Cheng's background:
A former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member of the so-called "student movement generation," the 37-year-old Cheng served as DPP deputy caucus leader at the National Assembly until her membership was canceled in 2002 after she openly criticized the former acting head of the Department of Health, Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), on a talk show that she hosted.
Cheng then began to side with the KMT. She formally joined the party in January last year at the invitation of former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
連戰 ) to serve as the party spokeswoman and deputy chief of the Communication and Culture Committee.Ma made Cheng the committee chief to take advantage of her knowledge of the DPP and her connections with the pan-green camp.
Although Cheng is now a fierce critic of the DPP, her political background and the recent controversies have upset some top KMT officials such as Chan Chuen-pao (詹春柏) as well as close aides of Ma, including Wu and Taipei Deputy Mayor King Pu-tsung (金溥聰).
One could name many similar cases of flip-flopping like this, from Hsu Hsin-liang, once a democracy stalwart who instigated the key Chungli incident, now forgotten; Shih Ming-te, perhaps the greatest of all the democracy leaders from the 70s and 80s, now out of the DPP and owned by the KMT (wrote a letter calling for Chen to resign recently); Sisy Chen, another one who came up with the DPP, then switched to the Blues.
As the article notes, it was clever of Ma to make use of the former DPP member this way. But as an outsider and observer, I keep asking myself what, if anything, these people ever stood for, besides their own advancement. With the exception of Shih Ming-te, who I think was simply the tragic victim of personal weakneses.
I can't resist adding that I'm sure the media will call for Ma's head now that his personally-selected spokeswoman was found to be owned by a businessman. The corruption! [vents cynical laugh]
[Taiwan] [DPP] [KMT] [Ma Ying-jeou]
"I keep asking myself what, if anything, these people ever stood for, besides their own advancement"
ReplyDeleteSurely that question applies to all politicians of all stripes in Taiwan? :)
Actually *in principal* I have no problem with this: If you're a democracy advocate who would like eventual unification, what would you do? Join the DPP when it was the party of 'democracy' and then switch to the KMT when democracy is (more or less) acheived and it becomes a independence/unification battle. Seems fair to me.
However, in practise the converts do seem to be driven by hate for their former colleagues more than anything else - which is hardly a noble motivation (I'm thinking Hsu and Sisy Chen in particular).
Just a few weeks ago she was on stage screaming her lungs at the recall CSB rally. She is a real pit viper. I was suprised to read she was so hated by the deep blues (and am glad to see her gone).
ReplyDeleteDidn't the last spokeperson, I think Apollo Chen (??), leave the KMT and go on to write some pro-democracy articles in the Liberty/Taipei Times?
David, what do you mean by hate for former colleagues? Could you give a specific example of that?
ReplyDeleteMichael, I'm curious about what you mean by "personal weaknesses" of Shih Ming-de. You mean women? Like women convinced him to criticize CSB? I think the current DPP spokesperson today said something like "I don't really know Shih Ming-de" which is crazy since he's well-known but specifically a former DPP chairman (is 10 years really that long?). Some other legislator said Shih Ming-de is just jealous that DPP saw real success only after he left.
This is really side note, but does anyone else notice that Shih Ming-de speaks really strange? I mean in terms of his mix of Taiwanese/Chinese that has many words not sure whether they are Taiwanese or Mandarin.
This is really side note, but does anyone else notice that Shih Ming-de speaks really strange? I mean in terms of his mix of Taiwanese/Chinese that has many words not sure whether they are Taiwanese or Mandarin.
ReplyDeleteShih's jaw was destroyed when he was imprisoned. That probably accounts for the problem.
anonymous: "David, what do you mean by hate for former colleagues? Could you give a specific example of that?"
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of examples for Sisy Chen - the most notable after the assassination attempt: that evening (before the election) she hosted a talk show discussing *how* the whole thing was faked (not even entertaining the possibility that it was for real), and followed up with more attacks - to the point that the KMT distanced themselves from her over it.
She actually hosts a reasonably intelligent and remarkably outward looking (i.e. global issues) TV show - which makes the contrast to her bile-filled rants even more extreme.
Hsu Hsin-liang also only seems to be purely anti-DPP (as opposed to pro-anything) when he appears - for example his 'monk-like' sit in in 2004.
There are others who have distanced themselves from the DPP without descending to these levels: Lin Yi-hsiung is clearly disillusioned with the current DPP - but any maneuvering by him seems to be aimed at changing the DPP for the better (from his perspective), while Li Ao (for all his idiocy) has at least been consistent in his beliefs. I also want to believe that Shih Ming-der is not driven by bitterness (but I'm aware that my admiration for what he did may cloud my view here ...)