Ma/Su Dialogue: Ruling and Opposition Party Reconciliation

Ma/Su Dialogue: Ruling and Opposition Party Reconciliation
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
May 29, 2012

Summary: Su Tseng-chang faces some daunting challenges. He must unify the party from within. He must promote ruling and opposition party dialogue. He must even help Taipei and Beijing achieve rapprochement. Su Tseng-chang's problems are also problems for President Ma Ying-jeou.chairman of the ruling KMT. Ma and Su must take practical action. They must let the public on Taiwan know that relations between the ruling and opposition parties is entering a new phase. Changes have led to a watershed in ruling and opposition party relations. From this day forward, the national interest will take precedence over partisan interests.

Full Text below:

The DPP has completed its hotly contested party chairman by-election. The election set a new record for voter turnout in a DPP by-election -- 69.6% -- the highest since 1998. The election also set a new record for the winning candidate, Su Tseng-chang -- 50.47% -- the lowest since the previous party chairmanship election. These figures show that Su Tseng-chang faces some daunting challenges. He must unify the party from within. He must promote ruling and opposition party dialogue. He must even help Taipei and Beijing achieve rapprochement. Su Tseng-chang's problems are also problems for President Ma Ying-jeou.chairman of the ruling KMT. Ma and Su must take practical action. They must let the public on Taiwan know that relations between the ruling and opposition parties is entering a new phase. Changes have led to a watershed in ruling and opposition party relations. From this day forward, the national interest will take precedence over partisan interests.

Su Tseng-chang was once a party official. When Su retired as Pingtung County Chief, DPP Chairman Shih Ming-teh appointed him DPP Secretary General. During Su's term as Secretary General, the DPP held its first ever general audit of party members. It held its first ever party primaries for ROC President, Taiwan Provincial Governor, and city mayors. Su's record was exemplary. He gained a reputation as "the secretary-general who let the chairman get all the applause." After the DPP came to power in 2005, Su ran unopposed for the position of party chairman. He received 99.71% of the vote. The following year, under Su's leadership, the DPP won 127 seats in the National Assembly. For the first time in history, the DPP was the largest party in the legislature. Together with the Chen administration, they successfully passed an amendment abolishing the National Assembly.

The second time Su was elected party chairman, the political situation was dramatically different. The rivalry between Su and Hsieh was now a rivalry between Su and Tsai. The "Ah-Bian Problem" constantly demanded attention. The DPP no longer commanded the resources and power of the ruling party. The former may have been more serious than the latter. The Democratic Progressive Party went from opposition party to ruling party. Starting over from scratch probably felt perfectly normal. Consider the DPP's current situation. It is looking to the seven in one election two years from now. For the DPP the odds are good. As an opposition party, it has nothing to lose. Su Tseng-chang is a former defense lawyer, a former Taiwan Provincial Assembly Member, and a former local government leader. For him dialoguing with the ruling KMT is not a problem. The problem is persuading comrades within his own party. The problem is persuading them to dialogue with Ma Ying-jeou.

Based on past experience, Su Tseng-chang may be able to persuade himself and persuade his comrades. The DPP may be an ideologically-motivated political party. But it has never been an irrational political party. Ever since the party was founded, the DPP has never ruled out dialogue with those in power. This was true under Jiang Pengjian. This was true under Huang Hsin-chieh. This was also true under Hsu Hsin-liang, Shih Ming-teh, and Chen Shui-bian. It was true even during the era of street protests. The DPP never refused to communicate with those in power. It carried on its struggle and communicated with those in power simultaneously. This allowed the DPP to grow. This allowed democracy to evolve. As a result the legislature underwent a thoroughgoing re-election. The President was directly elected. Eventually the DPP came to power. The Republic of China government experienced a change in ruling parties. It finally had a democracy worthy of the name. This would have been impossible without ruling and opposition party cooperation and competition.

The DPP came to power for the first time. President Chen Shui-bian served two terms, or eight years. No matter how bad relations became between the ruling and opposition parties, no one gave up on interparty consultations. Most importantly, when Chen Shui-bian was in office, he advanced his "New Centrist Path." For the very first time the DPP entered a new realm. This is something even Ma Ying-jeou failed to achieve during his first term. Ma Ying-jeou failed to do his homework. Former Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Tsai Ing-wen failed as well. Tsai Ing-wen lost the opportunity to transform the DPP. Now the opportunity has fallen into the hands of Su Tseng-chang. Su Tseng-chang should approach the challenge with greater aggressiveness.

Consider the matter from another angle. What does the DPP have to lose? As political elders, Su Tseng-chang and Tsai Ing-wen must clash. But they must also wait four years. Much lot can happen in four years. Never mind whether Su Tseng-chang's leadership style differs from Tsai Ing-wen's. Ask yourself why the DPP is always a day late and a dollar short vis a vis party transformation. Does it really intend to squander the next four years in a standoff with the ruling KMT? As party chairman, Su Tseng-chang must lead the party to election victory. But he must also lead the party through its transformation. The latter is the key to the former. How can a decrepit, even mummified DPP possibly return to power?

On election night, President Ma telephoned Su Tseng-chang to congratulate him. This one telephone call broke through barriers Tsai Ing-wen erected over four-years. Both ruling and opposition party leaders have demonstrated greater tolerance and forbearance. Su Tseng-chang did not immediately reject President Ma's invitation. He later said "The KMT and DPP should increase dialogue over social welfare issues. If a Ma/Su meeting can achieve this goal, there is no reason to refuse." He acted in a manner befitting the chairman of an opposition party, Of course, he also added, "If we are meeting only to put on a show, then we need not bother." In effect, Su dared Ma Ying-jeou to put his money where his mouth is.

The ruling and opposition parties have begun reconciling. The ruling and opposition parties have also begun competing. The KMT and the DPP are the latitude and longitude of our democracy, Both are indispensable. The Ma/Su meeting is a competition between the ruling and opposition parties, over which demonstrates greater tolerance and forbearance. They are also competing over policy and vision. From this moment forward, Ma Ying-jeou and Su Tseng-chang must give greater thought to "just what is in the national interest." The sooner Ma and Su address this problem, the sooner they can promote the general welfare.

馬蘇對話 展開朝野和解新局
2012-05-29 01:28
中國時報

 　在多方競逐中，民進黨完成黨主席改選，這次選舉創下民進黨自一九九八年以來的最高投票率百分之六十八點六二，當選人蘇貞昌則創下歷屆黨主席最低得票率百分之五十點四七，這兩個數字凸顯蘇貞昌必須面對的重大考驗，從黨內整合到朝野對話，乃至兩岸破冰；對應於蘇貞昌的難題，同樣也是執政黨主席、馬英九總統的課題，馬蘇必須以實際行動告訴台灣人民：朝野關係將步入新局，台灣將因為朝野關係的改變邁向新的分水嶺，全民利益從此可置於政黨利益之上。

 　蘇貞昌歷任黨公職，屏東縣長卸任後即受黨主席施明德邀，出任民進黨祕書長，在他任內辦理首次民進黨籍總檢查，舉辦首次總統和省市長的黨內初選，其幹練表露無遺，博得「把掌聲留給主席的祕書長」的聲譽。民進黨執政之後，他在二○○五年以一人參選高達百分之九十九點七一的得票率當選黨主席，隔年即帶領民進黨取得一百廿七席的任務型國民大會代表，讓民進黨第一次成為「國會第一大黨」，成功配合扁政府任內的最後一次修憲，廢掉國民大會。

 　回顧過往，第二次當選黨主席，政治形勢丕變，黨內從「蘇謝情結」到「蘇蔡之爭」，還要處理一時半刻難以消化的「扁問題」，對外民進黨不再是擁有資源與權力的執政黨，前者或許比後者還難搞，畢竟民進黨從在野到執政，從草根重新出發，理應視為正常，尤其是衡酌當前形勢，面對兩年後的七合一選舉，民進黨相對勝算大，質言之，立於不敗之地的在野黨要與執政黨對話，對曾經擔任美麗島辯護律師、省議員、地方首長的蘇貞昌而言，一點都不困難，難處反而在如何說服黨內同志，接受他與馬英九的對話。

 　從過去的發展經驗，或許比較能提供蘇貞昌說服自己和同志的理由。民進黨是有理念的政黨，但從來不是不理性的政黨，自創黨以來，民進黨從未排除與執政者對話，江鵬堅時代如此、黃信介時代如此、接續的許信良、施明德、陳水扁亦復如此；即使街頭抗爭的年代，民進黨也從未疏於與執政者溝通，抗爭與溝通雙線並進，讓民進黨一路壯大，也讓台灣民主政治不斷前進，國會因而全面改選、總統因而得以直選，最終也讓民進黨取得政權，讓台灣政黨輪替，民主政治得以名實相符，這個歷程，不是朝野有競有合的關係無法竟其功。

 　民進黨第一次執政之後，前總統陳水扁兩任八年期間，不論與在野關係多惡劣，從沒放棄朝野協商的可能。最重要的，陳水扁得以執政就是他首倡「新中間路線」，第一次把民進黨帶進新的境界，這一點，即使馬英九當選總統後的第一任亦未能達到，然而，馬英九沒做到的功課，同樣是民進黨前主席蔡英文的失落，蔡英文失去帶領民進黨轉型的契機，現在這個機遇落到了蘇貞昌手裡，蘇貞昌應該用更積極的態度面對。

 　換個角度想，民進黨還有什麼可以失去的？做為政壇前輩，蘇貞昌與蔡英文之間再有競爭，還得等四年，四年之間可能發生各種變化，先不想蘇貞昌如何展現有別於蔡英文的領導風格，就想想談轉型老是缺最後一哩的民進黨，還要浪擲四年時光在僵硬的朝野關係嗎？身為黨主席，蘇貞昌的任務除了帶領黨勝選之外，不就是要引領黨轉型嗎？而後者甚至是前者的關鍵因素，一個老化、甚至僵化的民進黨如何重返執政？

 　當選之夜，蘇貞昌接了馬總統的道賀電話，僅僅這通電話就已經突破蔡英文四年立下的壁壘，朝野領袖既有氣度更有風度，蘇貞昌並未立刻回拒馬總統邀約對話之舉，並稍後公開表示「當前國、民兩黨應該為增加社會福祉對話，馬蘇會若能達到這個目標，就不必迴避。」已然表現在野黨主席的高度，當然，他直言，「如果只是見面作秀，就大可不必。」等於出了一道功課讓馬英九準備。

 　這是朝野和解的開始，也是朝野新競爭關係的起步，國、民兩黨形同台灣民主的經緯，缺一不可，馬蘇會是朝野風度與氣度的競爭，也是政策思辯的競爭，從此刻開始，馬英九和蘇貞昌都得更費心思考與籌畫「什麼才是攸關全民利益」的課題，馬蘇愈早做好這道課題，愈有利於社會福祉。