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KMT must find the best way to rule the nation
By Liu Dsih-chi 劉子琦
Thursday, Mar 04, 2010, Page 8
In Saturday’s legislative by-elections, generally seen as a warm-up for the
year-end direct municipality elections, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
took three of the four legislative seats, therefore winning four local elections
in a row.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was defeated in both pro-KMT Taoyuan and
Hsinchu counties, and only managed a narrow win in pro-KMT Hualien County. This
showed that KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and KMT Secretary-General King
Pu-tsung (金溥聰) were unable to address and suppress internal struggles between
the party’s local factions.
Despite holding 75 legislative seats, the KMT suffers from poor local
mobilization and administrative performance. It is unable to take advantage of
its status as the ruling party and it does not understand what the public wants.
The defeats further damaged the party’s rule, making the direct municipality
elections more unpredictable.
The successful integration of local factions has always been fundamental to the
KMT’s victories and the factions have also been a cornerstone of the party’s
rule.
To promote local reform, Ma and King carefully picked candidates and formed
campaign teams that launched swift and fierce attacks. However, voter turnout in
by-elections normally stands at about 40 percent. Since such elections are only
held in very few districts around the nation, it is difficult to set an agenda
that attracts the public. Obviously, the KMT’s electoral strategy crumbled under
electoral pressure.
Members of the KMT’s local factions have long filled important positions and
those social resources have been used to promote social mobilization. Given this
longstanding systemic advantage, it should be easy for the KMT to manipulate
elections, but once national and local party leaders disagree on nomination
issues, local governance often collapses and conflict appears.
Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Hualien counties are pro-blue, but Ma and King were still
unable to handle the superficial integration of local factions. Nor were they
able to awake voter support and passion.
If the system is the foundation of the KMT’s rule, it only highlights the
success of the party’s propaganda, but it fails to explain the party’s
underachievement since regaining power.
Recently, Ma was ranked 37th in a Reader’s Digest survey on the credibility of
Taiwanese public figures. The low ranking echoed his unsatisfactory support
ratings, showing that while he may be trusted by the deep pan-blues, he is not
trusted by the general public. The problem is not election technique or local
factions — it is Ma’s poor performance that has killed the passion voters showed
during the 2008 presidential campaign, as their expectation turned into
disappointment and even desperation.
The most obvious impression the public has is of an uncompetitive bureaucratic
system that ignores their complaints. The government’s policy implementation has
been too lax, as it has been unable to resolve domestic social pressure created
by the economic downturn. Internationally, Taiwan’s global competitiveness is
stumbling, as the trade-oriented nation fails to handle industrial
transformation.
In the face of domestic and international pressures, Taiwan is worse off than
South Korea, which has left the financial crisis behind and is moving forward.
Moreover, as Taiwan leans toward China, will the imbalanced development result
in the polarization of rich and poor?
As the direct municipality elections approach, searching for the best way to
rule the nation is key to winning back public trust.
Liu Dsih-chi is an associate professor at Asia University’s
Department of International Business.
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