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Candidates must show
how they love Taiwan
By Chen Chun-kai 陳君愷
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was
once attacked by the pan-blue media for saying “I am Taiwanese” in one of her
campaign advertisements.
How ridiculous. During the presidential race in 2000, the question of whether a
candidate “loved Taiwan” was the focal point of the elections. Hardly anybody
nowadays would disagree that a Taiwanese candidate should be someone who
identifies with and loves Taiwan. Tsai was merely stating a fact, and the
pan-blue camp totally overreacted — its reaction merely highlighting its own
sense of guilt.
In 2008, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who tends to repeat uncritically what
other people say, took the idea of loving Taiwan to an unprecedented level when
he yelled out how he would always be Taiwanese, even when he is cremated. His
contention here served no purpose whatsoever, save perhaps for angering people
and making them wish that if he were considering cremation, he should just get
on with it.
So, how one goes about showing one’s love for Taiwan and what sort of place one
hopes Taiwan can become are the issues we should be focusing on. In the current
battle for the presidency, some have expressed their concerns that Taiwan
independence advocates are being marginalized. I would say they worry too much,
because as long as there is justice, there is no way that people in Taiwan — a
democratic nation based on the principles of popular sovereignty and
safeguarding the people’s right to self-determination — could be prevented from
deciding their own future.
However, over the past few years, it has often been said that there is no
justice in this country.
Indeed, there have been so many injustices in recent years that it is hard to
keep count of them all, cases in point being forced land expropriations,
including in Dapu Township (大埔), Miaoli County, for urban or industrial
development; the wrongful execution of air force serviceman Chiang Kuo-ching
(江國慶); the wrongful detention of death row inmate Chiu Ho-shun (邱和順); and pay
increases exclusively for military personnel, government officials and teachers.
When there is no justice, people can lose the land for which they have worked
hard for their whole lives. Without justice, people will not be able to have
wrongs righted in courts. Without justice, freedoms of speech and academic
inquiry are jeopardized. Without justice, the democratic system that is so
important to us would cease to mean anything.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime has always relied on dirty tricks
like lies, cheating and the abuse of power, lining the pockets of its cronies
and sheltering and protecting members who have broken the law. After regaining
power again in 2008, the KMT immediately returned to its old ways. Not long ago
we saw the Control Yuan come down on the DPP when children donated piggy banks
to Tsai’s election campaign. More recently we have seen government officials and
legislators deploy forged documents to conduct an all-out war on Tsai in what
has become known as the Yuchang case. It would obviously be futile to try to
seek justice from these people.
We have been unfairly treated in the past, but I would like to stress that we do
not have to go and vote with hate, blood and tears on our minds, afraid that our
vested interests will be compromised. Instead, in the interests of securing the
continued existence of Taiwanese democracy, we should put our faith in the
arrival of a new era of justice and hope. With that thought in mind, we can cast
our votes with smiles on our faces.
Chen Chun-kai is a professor of history at Fu Jen Catholic University.
Translated by Drew Cameron
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