Will Losing Power induce the DPP to Change?

Will Losing Power induce the DPP to Change?
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
March 13, 2008

Which presidential candidate, if elected, would bring greater disaster upon Taiwan? This is a question Frank Hsieh posed recently.

Frank Hsieh already has his own answer. He said that Ma Ying-jeou's election would precipitate "vicious struggles between pro-Ma and anti-Ma forces," similar to the pro-Chen and anti-Chen struggles over the past eight years. Taiwan would then remain mired in chaos. How convincing is Frank Hsieh's answer? That's up to the voters to decide. What's disturbing however, is the way Hsieh framed the question.

When people elect a president, what ought to matter is who can offer a brighter future for the nation and society, who can bring the people greater happiness. Many people are suffering as a result of the DPP's past eight years in office. Frank Hsieh failed to put forth a convincing blueprint for governing the nation. Instead he resorted to intimidation. In essence he issued a veiled threat that if the DPP lost the election, it had the ability to make plenty of trouble. Frank Hsieh predicted that if Ma Ying-jeou was elected, the DPP would launch a wholesale anti-Ma struggle movement, and not give Taiwan a minute of peace.

The term "vicious struggles" aptly describes the chaos on Taiwan over the past eight years. But for Frank Hsieh to promise vicious struggles in Taiwan's future, is something the people of Taiwan may have difficulty accepting. Frank Hsieh expressed no remorse for the vicious struggles engendered by DPP minority rule over the past eight years. Instead, he predicted that if he lost the election, the DPP would take to the streets, and partisan political struggles would become even more vicious. He was not intimidating the KMT. He was intimidating the people of Taiwan. Such rhetoric is truly chilling.

Frank Hsieh's proposition is: Give me power, and I will give you peace. Deny me power, and I will turn your world upside down. The most frightening aspect of Hsieh's "vicious struggle thesis" is that Hsieh sees politics as a struggle -- a vicious struggle. He utterly ignores the fact that politics ought to be about responsible governance and constructive achievements. This is not just a problem with Frank Hsieh. This is the most frightening characteristic of the DPP. Over the past eight years, the entire DPP has become addicted to waging vicious struggles against the political opposition. It has totally forgotten its solemn obligation to serve the people.

Frank Hsieh's "prophecy of defeat" has left many voters in a quandary. If Hsieh is elected, and this "Little President" attempts to fulfill his "Great Mission," he will precipitate vicious struggles. If Hsieh is not elected, he has threatened to take to the streets. The result will again be vicious struggles. These are the horns of the voters' dilemma.

If Frank Hsieh is elected president, we can anticipate vicious struggles. First. If Frank Hsieh is elected, it will amount to an endorsement of the DPP's conduct over the past eight years. Second. The Blue camp has a majority in the Legislative Yuan. An opposition majority in the legislature will merely intensify the Blue vs. Green struggle. If Hsieh is elected, these are the conditions that will prevail. What horrifies voters is Frank Hsieh's prediction that if he loses, voters can expect vicious struggles.

From Hsieh's prophecy we can conclude that whether there will be "vicious struggles" has nothing to do with whether Hsieh loses his bid for the presidency. Chen Shui-bian won his presidential bid. He has been in power for eight years. Vicious struggles have gone on for eight years. If Frank Hsieh is elected, vicious struggles will be even harder to avoid. Hsieh predicts that if he is not elected, there will be vicious struggles. Are we to understand that as long as the Democratic Progressive Party remains in existence, the people can look forward to nothing but vicious struggles?

If Frank Hsieh is elected, the nation will face divided government and vicious struggles. If Frank Hsieh is not elected, the DPP has promised to take to the streets and engage in vicious struggles. But there are struggles and then there are struggles. Ever since the DPP assumed power, it has abused the power of the state waging vicious struggles and engaging in rampant corruption. Over the past eight years, Taiwan has been bathed in blood and drowned in tears. If the DPP loses and is relegated to the status of an opposition party, the most harm it can do is behave like a "small-scale leftist movement" (Frank Hsieh's term) and engage in "street battles." Therefore the voters have a choice between two evils: a ruling DPP abusing state power, waging vicious struggles and engaging in rampant corruption, or an opposition DPP relegated to the status of a small scale leftist movement, provoking sporadic street battles.

Hsieh served once as premier and twice as DPP chairman. Yet today he appears willing to draw a sharp line in the sand between himself and the DPP. He even referred to himself as one of the Chen Shui-bian regime's victims. Hsieh predicted that if Ma Ying-jeou was elected, there would be endless, vicious struggles. In other words, Hsieh was promising that if he wasn't elected, there would be endless vicious struggles. This is something that reasonable members of the electorate simply cannot comprehend.

Even more baffling is Hsieh's perception of elections as "da jiang shan" (conquering rivers and mountains), i.e., founding a new dynastic order. Frank Hsieh's "prophecy of vicious post-election street battles" is an open admission. If the DPP loses the election, if it loses power, it has no intention of engaging in self-introspection. Instead it intends to engage in vicious struggles to the bitter end. What is this, if not "jiang shan yi gai, ben xing nan yi?" (Rivers and mountains are easier to change than an individual's nature."

Many people are curious. They want to know whether losing the mountains and rivers (losing power) will compel the DPP to change its nature, even one iota.

江山可丟，本性不改？
【聯合報╱社論】
2008.03.13 03:23 am

誰當選總統，會給台灣帶來更大災難？這是謝長廷最近提出的問題。

謝長廷已有他自己的答案。他說，如果馬英九當選，一定會引發「挺馬／反馬」的「惡鬥」，和過去八年的「挺扁／反扁」亂局如出一轍，台灣會一直亂下去。謝長廷的答案是否有說服力，人民自有智慧評斷；但令人不安的，其實是他對問題的提法。

人民選舉總統，要問的是誰能為國家社會實現更大的願景，誰能帶給人民更大的幸福。然而，在有些國人對民進黨執政八年極感痛苦之際，謝長廷非但未能提出足以服人感人的治國藍圖，卻還運用恐嚇戰略，彷彿揚言即使民進黨敗選，仍有極大的能量可以興風作浪。謝長廷的預言是：一旦馬英九當選總統，民進黨將全力發動「反馬惡鬥」，鬥到台灣沒有寧日。

用「惡鬥」來形容過去八年的台灣亂局，也許不失貼切；但謝長廷如今又用「惡鬥」來預報台灣未來的政治氣象，台灣人民恐難接受。謝長廷對民進黨八年「朝小野大」的惡鬥不僅毫無反省，還預告他若敗選，民進黨必走上街頭，政黨惡鬥將更為慘烈。他恐嚇的不是國民黨，而是台灣人民；這種論調，真令人心寒髮指。

謝長廷的說法是：給我權力，我就給你平靜；不給我權力，我就鬧得你天下大亂。此種「惡鬥理論」最可怕之處，就是把政治看成是「鬥」，而且是「惡鬥」，卻完全忽略了積極面的「施政」和「建設」。這其實不止是謝長廷的問題，也是民進黨最可怕的一面。執政八年，整個黨紿終耽溺於朝野「惡鬥」，全力操作並經營每一場戰役；最後卻忘了面對人民，忘了人民的付託。

謝長廷的「敗選預言」，使不少選民陷於「雙重恐懼」。謝若當選，「小總統」施展「大使命」，自將掀起「惡鬥」；謝若敗選，又預告將走上街頭，仍是「惡鬥」。這豈不是「雙重恐懼」？

謝長廷當選總統，已可預見「惡鬥」。第一，謝長廷若勝選，等於宣告選民已為民進黨八年來的風格與路線背書。第二，由於藍軍在立法院現有的優勢，「朝更小，野更大」將使藍綠對峙愈發惡化。這些皆是謝若當選必生「惡鬥」的條件。然而，令選民驚悚的是，謝長廷預告，即使落選，仍將「惡鬥」。

由此可知，「惡鬥」其實無關「當選」或「落選」。陳水扁「當選」，執政了八年，也「惡鬥」了八年；謝長廷若「當選」，「惡鬥」更不可免；問題是，如今竟又預告，倘若「落選」，也將「惡鬥」。難道，面對民進黨，國人除了忍受「惡鬥」，已無可選擇？

謝長廷當選，國家必將面臨「分裂政府」的「惡鬥」；謝長廷落選，民進黨又預告「走上街頭」的「惡鬥」。不過，雖然皆是「惡鬥」，性質仍有不同。因為，民進黨「當選執政」，是拿著國家的公權力來進行「惡鬥」，並大搞貪腐，過去八年即是血淚斑斑的真實經驗；反之，民進黨若「落選在野」，卻頂多只是搞搞「小左派」（謝長廷語）的「街頭惡鬥」。因此，選民在「民進黨執政用公權力貪腐惡鬥」，與「民進黨在野用小左派街頭惡鬥」，仍可有「兩害相權取其輕」的選擇。

謝長廷曾擔任閣揆並兩度出任民進黨主席，今天卻能將自己與民進黨八年窳政切得一乾二淨，甚至聲稱自己是扁政府的「受害者」。當他宣告馬英九「當選」會惡鬥不止，其實正是宣告他若「落選」會惡鬥不止，這實在不是理性公民所能理解的了！

更令人匪夷所思的是，人謂「選舉」就是「打江山」，謝長廷的「敗選後街頭惡鬥預言」，竟然預先透露，即使敗選，丟了「江山」，亦不會自省改過，仍要「惡鬥」到底，這真是：「江山易改，本性難移！」

許多國人想要看一看，民進黨若丟了「江山」，能否稍改其「本性」？