I have been greatly cheered by what I've so far from new DPP Chairman Tsai Ing-wen, whom I always thought would make a great chairman. Today the Taipei Times reported on her talk at the foreign correspondents club....Tsai — talking to members of the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents Club in Taipei — reiterated the message she has been delivering since taking over as party chair last month, saying the next four years were vitally important as the party needs to start again following its defeat in January’s legislative and March’s presidential elections.Good news all around, though I think the DPP needs to keep the tactic of street demonstrations as a threat if the situation turns really bad. UPDATE: She actually said after that remark that if demonstrations occur, the situation is serious. I especially like her commitment to stay on even if the party does not do well in next cycle -- the habit of empty resignations to 'take responsibility' in local government is destructive and instability-inducing.
Party unity was the most important aspect of the rebuilding, Tsai said, adding that a recent opinion poll had shown public perception of the DPP’s unity had increased dramatically.
Asked about how the party would reconnect with grassroots voters and compete with the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) traditionally strong local organization networks, Tsai said the DPP would strive to increase direct contact with voters and would use former government officials to extend its grassroots movements.
Tsai said that although the party was strapped for cash, one thing it did have was a lot of time and it would use that time to re-energize its disappointed supporters.
On the issue of sovereignty, Tsai said that while it was important, it would not be the main focus for the party under her tenure. She said the DPP would remain firm but practical on the issue and accused the KMT government of giving away “too much, too fast” in the recent cross-strait talks with China, adding that a balance needed to be obtained.
Quizzed on whether she would lead opposition supporters to the streets if the new government failed to live up to expectations, she said that it was not her “style.”
She said that while the DPP wouldn’t tell people to protest, it would help organize things if that were the case.
Talking about the lack of stability and continuity in the DPP and the high turnover of party leaders in the past, Tsai said it was important for the DPP to experience a period of stability and emphasized she would not resign if the party performed poorly in next year’s local county commissioner and mayoral elections.
UPDATE: On a totally unrelated note, amusing musings from The Granite Studio, an excellent China blog, on the possibility of cross-strait reconciliation in the NBA.
[Taiwan]
The DPP needs to show the public that they are inclusive of everyone and not simply pushing for a Hoklo-centric national cultural hegemony. It turned off a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteI agree about her commitment to stay on. I have often felt the resignations to take responisbility for election defeats are stupid. They also taint the reputation of the chairman, who him/herself may not be culpable. Good for her! She sounds reasonable too. Lets hope she can keep people together for a while.
ReplyDeleteI agree, organized street demonstrations and protests are necessary in a democracy.
ReplyDeleteTo anon- I agree with you that they should be more inclusive of everyone, but not to the point where they begin to forget about "Taiwan" identity. I know people like me are few, but I know quite a bit of Taiwanese-Americans that only know how to speak Taiwanese and not Mandarin. So that's what turns me off (one of the reasons) about the KMT- they throw me in the same group as Chinese, and yet I have an understanding of Mandarin as that of a baby, while my Taiwanese language is on par or even better than a lot of Taiwanese-born and still living in Taiwan-kids these days.
One of the great coups of the KMT was to create ethnic rivalry and competition here. Anything "Taiwanese" that really was widespread throughout the island among a somewhat diverse group of people was tagged "Hoklo" and ready to be disliked by Hakka and Aboriginals. Why is Taiwanese labeled as an ethnic group's language when its actual speakers are a wide ranging group? It's so odd how people look at Taiwanese as Hoklo-centric, but Mandarin as neutral.
ReplyDeleteTaiwanese used to be the most widespread language in Taiwan and ironically, the older Hakkas and Aboriginals all understand it and many can speak it too. It's also mutually intelligible throughout Taiwan despite a few subtle variations, whereas Hakka, few as the speakers are, have very different dialects just in Taiwan. Despite the absolute stubborness of many waisheng to not speak or learn Taiwanese, many do, and many fluent to the point that you don't know they are waisheng unless you hear their Mandarin (I mean older waisheng).
Many words in Taiwanese are borrowed from English via Japanese and some grammatical structures appear to have been borrowed from local Aboriginal languages.
Eighty percent of bensheng are of partial Aboriginal heritage cutting across the Hoklo Hakka divide. Many Hakka and Aboriginals growing up in Taiwanese language areas simply identify as Han.
I would agree that simply telling people that if they don't speak Taiwanese, they don't "love" Taiwan is wrong. But to pigeon-hole Taiwanese as just some group's language is also incorrect.
I think Tsai Ing-wen has shown a professional and disciplined approach so far. Like Thomas said above, it would be a shame if the DPP continues to sacrifice its best and most capable people everytime there is an election. The odds are really stacked against the DPP in local elections. Poor performance shouldn't just be blamed on the party leader.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be good if a few of the senior figures in the DPP came out and said they will support Tsai for the next four years regardless of election results.
While the rest of the world busy themselves with learning Mandarin and building closer ties to China, Taiwan's DPP is pushing for the opposite.
ReplyDeleteIt is about time most citizens of Taiwan finally understand that DPP's feel-good sound-bites translated to lower quality of life, lower income, and weaker competitiveness relative to the other economic tigers.