Joint Resignations Will Help the Ruling and Opposition Parties Define Themselves

Joint Resignations Will Help the Ruling and Opposition Parties Define Themselves
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
June 19, 2008

Representative to Japan Koh Se-kai's "Death before Dishonor" political gesture is pressuring Chen regime political appointees, foreign ministry officials, and executives of state-owned enterprises to submit a joint resignation. If this happens and the government conducts a thorough house-cleaning, then we really must give the DPP a giant thumbs up. If one is going to be an opposition party, this is the way to be an opposition party.

Doing so would at least solve an awkward dilemma that has prevailed ever since the change in ruling parties. On the one hand, the KMT would like to make major personnel changes as soon as possible. On the other hand, it is concerned it will be accused of carrying on a political purge. The result has been haphazard personnel assignments or rumors of personnel assignments that lead nowhere. The DPP meanwhile, constantly suspects the KMT of forming some sort of "Task Force for the Destruction of the DPP," of plotting to purge DPP appointees still in office. Now that the DPP is in the opposition, it must often witness its own members being humiliated by Pan Blue legislators. One month after the change in ruling parties, the ruling and opposition parties may have staked out their positions on the ideological spectrum, but neither side has been able to make any bold moves. Neither side is at ease. Wouldn't a joint resignation be an tremendous relief for both the Blue and Green Camps?

The ruling party could then act like a ruling party, and the opposition party could act like an opposition party. The sheep would have been separated from the goats. Pan Blue legislators would no longer be tempted to single out "Residual Greens" to cross-examine. Pan Green legislators would no longer worry about inadvertently burning one of their own. Nor would they have to endure the Blue Camp placing the blame on "officials from the previous administration." As DPP legislator Ker Chien-ming sees it, the DPP can't tolerate the KMT "using Green Camp political appointees as scapegoats to shift attention away from KMT incompetence."

Since the KMT has reclaimed the right to rule, and even promised "total governance, total responsibility," it should appoint its "Best and Brightest." But ever since the Green Camp accused Ma of conducting a political purge, he has been walking on egg shells. Many officials who should have been replaced have been kept on. By the same token, many officials appointed by the former administration find themselves caught in a dilemma. They don't know whether to stay or to go. At any moment they know they could be replaced. How many of them are going to have the presence of mind to implement new policy?

Reports of an alleged "Task Force for the Destruction of the DPP" are really rather absurd. If the DPP is so feeble it can be destroyed by some Blue Camp "Task Force," then the game is already over. The DPP might as well pack it in. Eight years ago, when the Democratic Progressive Party came to power for the first time, how did it treat Blue Camp officials who remained in office? Today the Blue Camp is merely treating them the same way. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Why not use the opportunity to establish a tradition of joint resignations based on whoever is the ruling party? Paranoid speculation about some "Task Force for the Destruction of the DPP" is unlikely to increase Blue Camp political momentum. But it could seriously diminish the DPP's stature.

Ironically, Representative to Japan Koh Se-kai's "Death before Dishonor" political gesture provides a way out of this predicament. If the Green Camp wishes to assign political responsibility for the Diaoyutai ramming incident, it can hardly blast the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while heaping praise on Koh Se-kai. The Green Camp can't wait to humiliate Pan Blue officials, but is unwilling to allow Koh Se-kai to appear in the Legislative Yuan, to be "humiliated" by Blue Camp legislators. To avoid the charge of double standards, the Green Camp's only choice is a joint resignation.

The solution is actually quite simple. The Blue Camp needs to assume total political responsibility. The Green Camp needs to provide comprehensive checks and balances. If five or six hundred officials in the Ma administration still have their hearts in the Green Camp, isn't something seriously wrong with the arrangement? The Green Camp was in the political opposition for a long time. The first time it took office it lacked the necessary talent, and was forced to recruit Blue Camp officials. This was entirely understandable. Since the Blue Camp insists it is "ready to go," it should have no problem filling hundreds of vacancies. If the KMT is not concerned about charges that it is conducting a "political purge," it should assign its own people to these positions and not look back.

Every time a U.S. presidential election results in a change in the ruling party, large numbers of former officials pack their bags and move their families home, to be replaced by new officials. Sometimes every four years. Sometimes every eight years. This is all perfectly normal. Nobody considers it the least bit strange. Nobody hints darkly of political purges of former officials. Nobody turns joint resignations into Greek tragedies. Nobody alleges the existence of a "Task Force for the Destruction of Such and Such Party." After all, this is nothing more than a routine change of ruling parties.

As for these five or six hundred officials, allegedly the DPP's Best and Brightest, will they all resign simultanously on orders from the DPP? We'll have to wait and see. After all, each of these officials has a different story. Some were promoted with great difficulty. Some really hustled to get themselves promoted. Some were hurriedly installed just before the change in ruling parties. Some have no intention of clinging to their rice bowls. Some are well qualified for their jobs. If the DPP issues an order demanding a joint resignation, how many of them will fall in line? We will know in just a few days.

中時電子報
中國時報 　2008.06.19
藉著總辭讓朝野各自就定位
中時社論

　講實在話，如果不是因為駐日代表許世楷的「不堪其辱」事件，讓民進黨有意要讓所有曾經任命的政務官、外交官及國營事業負責人通通「集體請辭」，來一次徹底的人事大清倉，這一切如果後來都能成為事實，我們在這倒還真要向民進黨豎起大拇指：要做在野黨，就該這麼幹！

　選擇這麼做，至少解決了政黨輪替後一直都挺彆扭的困局：一方面國民黨早早就想大幅調整人事，但又怕被綠營扣上「清算政治」的帽子，結果接掌政權後的人事布局，不是零零星星，就是多半有風聲卻沒動靜。民進黨呢，老是懷疑國民黨內真有個什麼「毀民進黨小組」，會對那些還留在位子上的官員下手，特別是都已經在野了，還要經常目睹自己人在那被藍營立委羞辱，結果政黨輪替都一個月了，縱然朝野政黨早就各自就定位，但就是沒法大開大闔，雙方都不舒坦。若能來一次「集體請辭」，不藍綠陣營都獲得了解脫？

　畢竟如此一來，朝是朝，野是野，不必再老是你泥中有我，我泥中有你，弄得藍營立委質詢時專挑「綠營遺老」的麻煩，綠營立委質詢要不就是得小心別燒到昔日的自家人，要不就是得忍受藍營把問題全都推給「舊官僚」，正如同立委柯建銘所謂：絕不要再當國民黨轉移治國無方的「墊腳石」與「替死鬼」。

　嘗試想想：國民黨既然拿回了執政權，又標榜「完全執政、完全負責」，當然就該部署好完整的執政團隊，但被綠營一個「清算」帽子這麼一扣，反而處處瞻前顧後，許多該調整的人事就這麼被擱置了下來。同樣的，那些還在任上的前朝官員，不少人也陷入進退失據的困境，不知是該走還是該留，時時刻刻又有可能會被撤換的心理預期，試問誰還有什麼心情去推動政務？

　這兩天傳出的「毀民進黨小組」的說法，其實真的也很扯，民進黨若是衰弱到能被藍營搞個什麼「小組」就毀掉了，那還玩什麼？八年前民進黨初次執政的時候，對那些還留在任上的藍營官員，何曾客氣過？如今藍營不過是同樣的手法再玩一遍而已，若是不想受這個氣，藉此建立隨政黨輪替集體去留的慣例，也未嘗不可不是嗎？為一個「毀民進黨小組」的說法弄到那般杯弓蛇影，既長不了藍營多少氣勢，反倒滅了自己不少威風！

　駐日代表許世楷這一回合的「辭職政治學」風波，其實正是這種困局的最佳寫照。綠營要追究執政當局在釣魚台撞船事件的政治責任，總不能只轟外交部，卻又力捧許世楷吧？綠營競相羞辱藍營的官員，又不願讓許世楷去立院接受藍營立委的「羞辱」，要避免被外界指為雙重標準，集體請辭恐怕是唯一的選擇了。

　所以，問題其實很單純，藍營需要完整的責任政治，綠營期盼能操作完整的制衡政治，如果還有那麼五、六百名官員「人在曹營心在漢」，怎麼說都不對勁吧？以前綠營因為是長期在野，初掌執政權時行政人才不足，迫不得已向藍營借將，這在彼時完全可以理解。如今藍營既然說他們都準備好了，立即補實幾百名缺額應該不是問題，不是嗎？國民黨如果已經沒有「清算」的顧慮，就放手布局人事吧！

　美國大選只要每逢政黨輪替，華府都會出現大量卸任官員拖運行李舉家搬出，同時又有成群新任官員遷入的畫面，有時四年一次，有時八年一次，大家都見怪不怪，從沒鬧過什麼清算前朝官員，集體請辭戲碼，或是「毀ＸＸ黨小組」的風波，畢竟這就是在政黨輪替嘛！

　至於這批號稱優秀的五、六百名官員，會不會在民進黨一聲令下就全部請辭呢？大家一塊等著看吧！畢竟這中間每位官員的故事都不一樣，有不少的人是好不容易才升上去的，有的是費好大勁經營才爭取到的，有的還是趕在政黨輪替前趕忙才安排的，有的則早就無心戀棧，有的也確實是適才適所的優秀人才，如果民進黨一聲集體請辭令下，他們都會立即行動一致嗎？再沒幾天就揭曉了。