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EDITORIAL: Pigs have
taken flight
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has a lot to thank the Control Yuan for.
If Control Yuan members had not instructed the party to return the piggy banks
donated to DPP Chairperson Tsai Ying-wen’s (蔡英文) presidential campaign by three
young triplets because they violated the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法), the
party would never have hit upon the idea of a “little pigs month,” distributing
piggy banks to supporters, who are then encouraged to return them filled with
donations.
It has been a fabulously successful initiative, so much so that the nation’s
shelves have been stripped of piggy banks by people wanting to do their bit for
Tsai’s campaign.
The impact has gone beyond injecting the campaign with much needed funds; it has
also created an interesting focal point, bringing the candidate and the
electorate closer together.
Irrespective of the actual results of January’s presidential election, the piggy
bank drive will endure as one of the more intriguing aspects of the campaign.
Think of it as Taiwan’s version of the Jasmine Revolution or the Occupy Wall
Street movement. It has handed countless middle and working-class voters the
opportunity to find their own voice through micro-donations, in contrast to the
still fabulously wealthy Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), once the richest
political party in the world. The piggy banks are a symbol that people are
rejecting the KMT’s pro-big business and pro-China leanings, as well as its lack
of environmental credentials.
They are a rallying point for much of the anger over social injustice and
oppression that pan-green supporters have felt for some time now, as the gap
between rich and poor widens, housing prices rocket and the threat of compulsory
unpaid leave and potential redundancy looms.
There is much to unite these sections of society, and they now believe there is
something that they can do about it. Even without the piggy bank drive, these
voters would have migrated to the DPP.
Of course, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign office has complained about
the DPP’s fund raising tactic, accusing the DPP of exploiting children for
political ends.
Ma should instead reflect on why, after three years in office, he is unable to
inspire the electorate in a comparable way. He has tried to use his success in
bringing down the price of rice wine to demonstrate his empathy for the average
person, but this means little given that the prices of milk and coffee are on
the rise.
He has tried to revisit the success of his “long stay” initiative in the 2008
campaign, but such attempts smack more of political gimmickry than a genuine
attempt to get closer to ordinary people.
The piggy bank drive would have left little impression on pan-blue supporters
because the KMT has never really been about representing the vulnerable or the
oppressed, and no one is going to believe that it needs any financial help.
Each political party has its own voter base, and each has cultivated its own
social image over the years. The KMT ought to get over its jealousy of the DPP’s
success with the piggy banks. It would do better to reflect on why it has so
little to show for three years in power and absolutely nothing new to offer or
inspire the electorate.
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