-- drove away many of the old line foreign activists
-- drove off or split with all of the social justice groups
-- inflicted a terrible bloodletting on itself in the primary
-- screw up its relations with the international media
-- is cash-poor
-- blew the legislative elections, lost the three-in-one elections
-- lacks a strong youth cadre development program
-- suffers from crippling ethnic essentialism
-- does not control the bureaucracy, the universities, the judiciary, the police, or the military
-- is opposed by its major ally, the United States
-- is opposed by the rising power of China
... and could still win this election.
Think about that.
Enjoy yourselves. The good fight has been fought; whatever happens tomorrow, we did our best. Tomorrow I am going hiking and I won't be blogging (famous last words). So instead of something about Taiwan, I am leaving you with this hilariously unrelated website my close friend Karl flipped me: International Association of Time Travelers: Members' Forum Subforum: Europe - Twentieth Century - Second World War
[Taiwan]
Why are there so many Taiwanese supporting KMT? This is very hard for me (as a foreigner) to understand. Is the economics under DPP that bad?
ReplyDeleteOr is it because many Taiwanese think KMT and China separately?
Sorry we lost the connection on the phone before. We'll see what happens.
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Jiayou Taiwan! Please, for the love of all things sacred! Allow me to change my blog name!
Goodnight, and good luck democracy!
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Michael, a few of the DPP "mistakes/faults" you mention in this post are also reasons why many people do not support the DPP. I'm relatively new to your blog, so I've only read a week or two worth of posts. It's clear to me why you don't support the KMT. But can you distill your reasons for supporting the DPP? How do you reconcile your support with the DPP's "crippling ethnic essentialism" and you not being an "ethnic" Taiwanese?
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous--As a Taiwanese who never doubts about her true colors, I often have the same question as you do. But then, I have to say the KMT has been very successful in the past 60 years in brainwashing a lot of Taiwanese. When I look at my co-workers, who always comment that DPP is a bunch of good-for-nothings, a group of false scholars and lawyers (while Ma is never a lawyer!!!) who only try to arouse ethnic conflicts and political riots, I know how successful the KMT has been in controlling the media and the educational system to brainwash my poor people!
ReplyDeleteMike, I really enjoy your blog, especially your analysis on the news media and the observations on Taiwan. Although I lived in Taiwan for 20 years (during my youth), I actually feel that you have been to more places in Taiwan than I do. You also know more insight about Taiwan-US relationships than I do.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard for Taiwanese people to wake up from the 50 years of brain-washing, especially with the biased pan-blue media which mislead people all the time. I was once believing everything KMT and pan-blue media said until I watched a PBS program. That program ("Tug of War") started my questioning of what I was educated and read in the media. It inspired me to start digging out the story, not just rely on what the media told me.
I know it's very frustrating to know that there are still a lot of people believing the biased story, half-truth (or half-lies), and rumors spread by the pan-blue media and KMT. But, we shall never lose hope. Taiwan need people like us.
Keep up the good work! I am one of your loyal reader (same is my husband) :-)
-Carol
"Why are there so many Taiwanese supporting KMT?"
ReplyDeleteMost media in Taiwan are controlled by KMT/China and the people are just that gullible...
Most educated taiwanese equate chen with bush in terms of leading the nation with their economic and social agenda.
ReplyDeleteWell Michael, despite the poor showing of the DPP, I wish that they'll reflect on their missteps in the last 8 years and reform themselves down to the core.
ReplyDeleteThe party itself should not be allowed to become irrelevant--there are many talented and capable individuals that I want to see emerge as the party's future leadership, who can present policy and leadership alternatives to what the KMT could offer (and I say this as a long-time KMT supporter). Political competition for all of its raucousness is good in the long term. This loss for the DPP should not mark the end of Taiwan's growth into a mature democracy.
Please keep on blogging on your views, which will no doubt become even more interesting in a Taiwan under Ma's administration.
"... and could still win this election."
ReplyDeleteAll nonsense considering the upset tonight.
The DPP, and your blog for supporting them, have really lost face tonight.
How can you even speak with any authority on matters of the Taiwanese heart? However, I assume you will try to explain the election away using statistical manipulation.
Are you really in touch with the real feelings of the Taiwanese or are you superimposing your own personal Western leanings?
You perpetually describe a political situation that is obviously and currently in the minority.
ow do you reconcile your support with the DPP's "crippling ethnic essentialism" and you not being an "ethnic" Taiwanese?
ReplyDeleteAs I have said many times, I don't support the DPP per se. I support Taiwan and its democracy, and all the parties that support it.
I understand your question in a very personal way and you are completely correct, which i will blog on in a few days. Had a very moving experience with it at the FAPA meeting on Friday. Ended up pissed and frustrated.
In the meantime I'll put up a post tomorrow, and then take a few days off -- I'm exhausted and heartsick. At the moment I don't see how Taiwan is going to recover from this terrible blow, but everyone around me is trying to reassure me that things will work out. I don't think a lot of people really grasped the plans international capital has to hollow out the island. Further, The flood of shit in the international media is going to swell to a tidal force, and I don't have the heart or the energy to deal with it now.
Michael
If people don't agree with you, then they must be brainwashed.
ReplyDelete------I like it.
A more accurate title for this blog would be "The View from Tainan," but sadly the DPP couldn't even keep Tainan city today.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment I don't see how Taiwan is going to recover from this terrible blow
ReplyDeleteyes, a devastating blow: how will Taiwan ever recover from a ruling party peacefully giving way to the opposition after an election in which the people have spoken? Democracy is a bitch.
chrissakes, what kind of democracy do you support when you've already decided who is the right candidate and who is the wrong one?
ReplyDelete...and when Taiwan doesn't listen to you it's a "terrible blow" for Taiwan?
Sorry, but that strikes me as somewhat arrogant.
I guess democracy isn't so great after all?
ReplyDeletewhat kind of democracy do you support when you've already decided who is the right candidate and who is the wrong one?
ReplyDeleteYes, bizarre of me to prefer one candidate to the other. Imagine prefering one candidate to another in a democracy. That almost never happens...
>I guess democracy isn't so great after all?
ReplyDeleteIn a democracy, you get the government you deserve. If the KMT will deliver Taiwan to a Communist dictatorship, then that's exactly what the Taiwanese people deserve.
OK based on what I see, my current perception is that regardless of people voting for DPP or KMT, many of them don't like DPP. People vote for DPP for the democracy even if they don't necessarily like DPP.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy for me to put the at most priority to the democracy, but I guess it's not that simple for people living there...
But the democracy has some objective criteria, and I think KMT violates a number of them. So I feel supporting DPP for the democracy is not tautological.
@ Anon "Are you really in touch with the real feelings of the Taiwanese or are you superimposing your own personal Western leanings? You perpetually describe a political situation that is obviously and currently in the minority."
ReplyDeleteA lot of people have gone after Michael in the past for the passion with which he reports news from Taiwan. "Too biased", "too out of touch with reality", "too emotional," they say. Whatever you may think of Michael's opinions and his blog is your right and you're welcome to voicing it. I just find it sad, Anon, that in the hour you should be celebrating a hard-earned victory you would choose to come in here to kick a guy when he's down.
I've known Michael for a couple years now and though I've met him in person only once I count him as one of my best friends. The guy carries a big heart on his sleeve and seems to lack an "off" switch. Agree with him or not, there's no doubting that he does his fucking homework on every issue he tackles or succeeds in provoking thought.
And knowing even though it's going to kill him, I can guarantee he's going to pick himself up out of the pool of half-digested pity rum he's most likely passed out in and try to make sense of it all.
Maybe you'll agree with his conclusions, or maybe not. Again, that's your prerogative. Wherever you stand, all respect to the man for putting his public reputation on the line and speaking his mind honestly, something you yourself seem unwilling or unable to do.
Keep up the good work, MT, and don't let the trolls keep you down. This is where the fun begins!
Thanks, Jason. I think the trolls are useful in showing the kind of person that supports the KMT.
ReplyDeleteNo rum handy, sadly. Did cheap merlot instead.
Michael
Anon- I often ask myself the same thing-- why do so many native Taiwanese support the KMT.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the reasons is that the media is mostly pro-KMT and that influence is tremendous over time. The KMT has the resources and connections to "brainwash" the public.
The DDP certainly didn't help with their "mistakes" and lack of savvy with the politics and PR.
I hope the pro-Taiwan groups mature into a more effective political force soon. The KMT have a 60yr headstart in Taiwan with no real opposition. The DDP does not have that luxury. They have to be better.
Someone wrote earlier in the blog to Michael:
ReplyDelete"How do you reconcile your support with the DPP's "crippling ethnic essentialism" and you not being an "ethnic" Taiwanese?"
This is simply biased. I remember in 2000, President Chen pushed to redefine Taiwanese as all who love Taiwan.
My ancestors came to Taiwan before the birth of USA but I consider Michael just as "Taiwanese" as I am.