Pseudo-DPP, Ersatz KMT

Pseudo-DPP, Ersatz KMT
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
October 30, 2009

A group of Green Camp officials in Chiayi, led by former Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ho Jin-song, openly criticized the DPP candidate for County Executive. They accused County Executive Chen Ming-wen and candidate for County Executive Chang Hua-kuan of being "pseudo-DPP" members. They said Chen and Chang were trying to obtain the party's political backing by switching their party affiliations. Especially worth pondering was that they made their debut the same day they defected from KMT candidate Hsiao Teng-piao's campaign.

By coincidence, amidst the three-way struggle between the Blue and Green camps in Hualien, rumors of a "Green Hsieh Alliance" have emerged. The DPP will allegedly ally itself with Chang Chih-ming, who quit the party to run on his own. Chang Chi-ming is regarded as Hsieh Sheng-shan's successor. He may throw his support behind the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate for Mayor of Hualien, in exchange for Tsai Ing-wen's support. How much support Chang Chih-ming actually has is hard to tell. But the DPP is betting on Hsieh Sheng-shan based on his residual value as a Kuomintang member for half his life.

Compare this to the storm currently raging over the fixing of baseball games. The political arena has a long history of apostasy, changes in allegiance, and even defections in the heat of battle. The difference is that players who fix baseball games are criminally liable. If they are discovered, not only will the fans reject them, they will never be able to play professional baseball again. By contrast, political apostates can apparently do whatever they wish. They can openly defy party discipline and betray the party's principles, yet they always seem to have elaborate rationalizations for what they have done.

Fixing baseball games is not the same thing as political defections. But what difference is there between a politician defecting from his own party in the heat of battle, and a ball player ignoring his coach's instructions but instead taking orders from a triad boss on the sidelines?

Eight years ago, Chen Ming-wen took off his Blue KMT robe and raised the Green DPP banner. He helped Chiayi County become a Green domain for the first time. The DPP boasted that "party politics had put an end to local factional politics." But eight years have passed. Has Chiayi County put an end to local factions? Hardly. If anything, the political ecology has become even more complex. Green camp officials in Chiayi are accusing Chen Ming-wen and others of being "Pseudo-DPP" members. Not only do their ideologies clash, other more complex factors are involved. These self-styled "Veterans of the Democratic Progressive Party" are throwing their support behind Hsiao Teng-piao, who just removed his Blue KMT robe. This proves that in Chiayi County, "party politics" is nothing more than a rumor in the wind, with no basis in reality.

The current campaign has seen widespread rebellion within the KMT. This shows that even after twenty years of hard work, party politics is merely skin deep. Internal strife within the Green Camp further illustrates this phenomenon of "in the same business, but working toward different objectives." This is not just the KMT's problem. For the KMT, long-term entanglement with local factions eventually left it at the mercy of local factions. This is the thorniest issue Ma Ying-jeou must face. The DPP meanwhile, has spread itself too thin. It was unwilling to cultivate new talent. Instead it adopted a strategy of recruiting Blue Camp defectors. It is perishing because its ideology and its methods are incompatible. This will eventually lead to a schism.

Consider the internal strife within the Green Camp in Chiayi County. Is Chen Ming-wen a "pseudo-DPP" member? Or are those denouncing him "pseudo-DPP" members? In all likelihood, even the DPP leadership doesn't know. Never mind that while the Democratic Progressive Party was in power it used every trick in the book to incite Blue Camp defections. Chen Ming-wen's original reason for defecting to the Green Camp was that he sensed the emotional fervor behind the support for Chen Shui-bian, and jumped on the bandwagon. But that was then. The Ah-Bian craze has died down. What the public wants now is soul-searching. The public wants the mess Ah-Bian left behind cleaned up. But the Democratic Progressive Party has absolutely no response to such public expectations. In particular, toward the end of Ah-Bian's term of office, countless loyal and upright members of the Democratic Progressive Party were forced to leave. Today, the DPP leadership can no longer speak of the "Democratic Progressive Party spirit." Party members are still arguing over who is the "real" DPP candidate in Chiayi County. One really has to laugh.

Ironically, while the Green camp is condemning "pseudo-DPP" members, so many Blue camp officials are "ersatz-KMT" members, no one even cares. Cheng Yung-chin is a local leader of the ruling KMT. Yet he threw his support behind a candidate who refused to participate in the party primaries. As a result, his party membership was revoked. That was hardly an injustice. If Hsieh Shen-shan falls into the "Green Hsieh Alliance" trap, isn't that a confession he was merely pretending to be a KMT member for the past several decades?

A number of years ago, martial law was lifted, democracy was rampant, politicians ran wild, alliances were forged, then dissolved. One still enaged in ideological disputes. Such disputes promoted democracy. But today, political apostasy is motivated by power lust and self-interest. It undermines party politics and the system of democracy. Those who have trouble understanding cause and effect need only look at the fixing of professional baseball games. A few bad apples can ruin the entire game of professional baseball and shatter public faith in sportsmanship. The same applies to politics.

「假民進黨」與「偽國民黨」
【聯合報╱社論】
2009.10.30 04:36 am

以民進黨前立委何金松為首的一批嘉義綠營人士，日前公開抨擊縣長陳明文及縣長候選人張花冠是「假民進黨」，靠著轉換黨派色彩來攫取政治利益。值得玩味的是，他們當天現身的檯子，卻是退出國民黨參選的蕭登標總部。

無獨有偶，在藍營三雄相爭的花蓮，傳出了「綠謝合」的風聲；即民進黨將和退黨參選的張志明結盟，被謝深山視為「接班人」的張志明，可能為民進黨花蓮市長候選人站台，以換取蔡英文的表態支持。張志明的實力到底如何，外界看不出來；但民進黨看中的，應是謝深山以他半生做為國民黨員所經營的殘餘價值吧。

比起棒壇正鬧得沸沸揚揚的「假球風波」，政壇的變臉、易幟乃至陣前倒戈叛降的事件，更是歷史悠久得多。不同的是，球員打假球有刑事責任，一被查出，不僅遭球迷唾棄，在棒壇也將永無立錐之地；而政治變臉卻似乎可隨心所欲而為，不論拋棄黨紀黨德的姿態多難看，變節者總有一套自圓其說的道理。

將「打假球」與「政治變臉」相提並論，雖不盡對稱；但試想：同志臨陣造自己政黨的反，這跟球員在球場上不看教練指揮、卻聽候場邊黑幫小弟的指令，有何兩樣？

八年前，陳明文脫下藍袍改掛綠旗，幫綠營締造嘉義縣的首度變天，民進黨曾大誇海口，說這具有「政黨政治終結地方派系」的意義。但八年過去，嘉義的地方派系終結了嗎？不僅沒有，而且利益生態變得更形複雜。這次，嘉義綠營人士指控陳明文等是「假民進黨」，除了理念不合，也許有更複雜的背景；但這批自稱「民進黨老兵」的人，卻跑去為剛脫下藍袍的蕭登標站台，正證明嘉義的「政黨政治」只不過是風中的傳說，一點根也沒有。

這次選舉，國民黨內叛聲四起，顯示台灣耕耘廿多年的政黨政治只是虛有其表；而綠營的內訌，更說明這種「同營異心」的現象，亦不只是國民黨一黨的問題。在國民黨而言，長期與地方派系合縱連橫的結果，最後卻遭派系牽制、反噬，這是馬英九如今必須惶恐面對的棘手問題。在民進黨而言，則是在擴張過程裡不願務實培養人才，卻大肆招降納叛策略吸納藍軍叛將，卒至理念和作法均難契合，而終歸要分道揚鑣。

以嘉義綠營的內訌為例，到底陳明文是「假民進黨」，或者指控他的那一方才是「假民進黨」，恐怕連民進黨中央也沒有辦法說得分明。且不說民進黨在執政過程中使用過多少招降納叛伎倆，陳明文當初之所以投效綠營，主要是看到群眾對陳水扁瘋狂追隨的熱力，而意識到自己必須跟上這股「潮流」。曾幾何時，「瘋扁」的狂潮早已退燒，取而代之的，是社會大眾要求反省、清理阿扁餘緒的聲音，民進黨對此卻毫無招架之力。尤其，在扁任內末期的紛爭中，多少民進黨忠貞、正直之士被迫退黨；如今，黨中央連什麼是「民進黨精神」都已經說不出口，同志還在爭誰是嘉義「正統」，委實令人啞然失笑。

諷刺的是，當綠營在聲討「假民進黨」時，藍營裡的「偽國民黨」卻已經多到讓人懶得追問了。鄭永金身為執政黨首長，卻去支持不參加黨內初選的違紀參選者，因此而遭撤銷黨籍，有什麼冤可喊？而若謝深山最後投入「綠謝合」的陷阱，不也是形同自承戴了數十年國民黨假面具？

早些年，在解嚴前後的民主狂飆期，政治人物跳來跳去、分分合合，尚有理念之爭，可謂是民主的推進器；但時至今日，這類變臉變節者，已大多出於權力傾軋及私利算計，只是蹧蹋政黨政治和台灣民主而已。不明白其間因果的人，請看看職棒假球事件吧：幾個害群之馬就能毀掉整個職棒和人們相信的運動精神，道理是一樣的！