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KMT gang links cause for concern
By Nathan Novak 李漢聲
Amid all of the public “sympathy” for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on the
night of Nov. 26 and during the elections the following day, it was easy to miss
the major implications the shooting of Sean Lien (連勝文) had for Taiwan.
After the shooting death of Huang Yun-sheng (黃運聖) and the wounding of Lien, the
KMT orchestrated a wonderful media blitz campaign which, although far from
subtle to most knowledgeable observers, appears to have had a major effect on
the election results.
Although the shooting may not have claimed the elections in Taipei, Sinbei and
Taichung, it almost certainly widened the margins of victory that the KMT
enjoyed.
It is quite obvious that the KMT gained from politicizing the tragic event
(while simultaneously warning the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) not to make
the tragedy a political issue). It is also disgraceful how certain groups in
society tried to shame the DPP — for making the exact same appeal.
In my estimation, the media — as well as the DPP — both missed a key aspect of
the shooting. Instead of spending so much time and effort mourning the loss of
an individual and the injury to another, the DPP and the media should have taken
some time to assess the threat posed to the real victim in this situation: the
broader Taiwanese public.
True, this approach would have been hard for society to swallow.
Indeed, I’m sure stating the reality of the situation would have sounded
insensitive, heartless, cruel and all those other adjectives that are used to
make the truth sound evil.
It is difficult to describe society as a victim when a single individual is dead
and his family mourns him. It is hard to call society a casualty when another
individual is shot through the face and his father weeps bitterly for the entire
world to see.
However, the reality of the situation is, before the election, at least to my
knowledge, neither the DPP nor the media asked the really difficult questions
that were on every interested, knowledgeable and concerned observer’s mind: just
what in the hell are gang members and others with gang affiliation doing at a
KMT political rally, and just what are KMT politicians doing having relations
with gang members?
Some, of course, passed it off as a DPP political ploy from the beginning,
comparing it to the “staged” political violence of March 19, 2004, when former
president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was shot.
By this line of reasoning, the DPP orchestrated the shooting to win political
support and public sympathy for then-candidate Chen.
The ironic twist when comparing the two shootings is that last month’s incident
involved the DPP “conspiring” to shoot a KMT candidate. The argument, then,
loses all credibility as it makes the acts contradictory and at least one of
them counterproductive.
It seems the DPP can be blamed for everything. The DPP injures its own and
injures (and kills) others, all for its political amusement. The DPP destroyed
Taiwan’s economy. The DPP upset China. And, contrary to all historical evidence,
it is in fact the DPP that has the strongest ties to the Taiwanese (and, for
that matter, Chinese) underworld.
This is all preposterous, but arguably the most preposterous of all is the claim
by some KMT supporters that the DPP’s hands are the deepest of all in the
underworld grime. It is of course possible that the shootings of both March 19,
2004, and Nov. 26, this year, were organized and carried out by the DPP and/or
its supporters.
Just about anything is possible in politics, but the fact of the matter is that
DPP involvement in either case is highly unlikely.
Indeed, the KMT itself is known worldwide as one of the most corrupt political
parties ever to have existed. This doesn’t make the KMT itself or its individual
members and supporters evil. But it does make the KMT quite frightening.
Cooperation between gangs and the KMT can be traced at least as far back as the
period before the Shanghai White Terror in 1927, also known as the Great Purge,
where Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and the KMT made use of underworld informants,
terrorists and executioners, most of whom were members of the Green Gang, in an
attempt to clear the metropolis of Communists.
These hooligans were then, after Shanghai was for all intents and purposes rid
of leftists, turned on the business community to extract funds for state use.
Writing in this period, Herbert Owen Chapman states that “Wealthy Chinese would
be arrested in their homes or mysteriously disappeared from the streets; and
those who reappeared came back as poorer men, but could in no case be induced to
... inform on their oppressors,” even “Millionaires were arrested as
‘communists’!”
Chiang had become acquainted with the Green Gang criminal organization sometime
between 1915 and 1923 while living in Shanghai.
In fact, the KMT and the Green Gang shared the profits of the drug trade after
the establishment of the Opium Suppression Bureau.
Such cooperation certainly didn’t end with the suppression of the Communists in
1927. The KMT used the Green Gang to retain order in Shanghai throughout the
“Nanking Decade.” What is more, the KMT depended to some extent on the Green
Gang when the Japanese invaded Shanghai in 1937.
This of course does not necessarily implicate the KMT today, but the fact that
the party has a long history of cooperation with gangs and still has strong ties
to many of the largest triad groups in Taiwan today should make journalists,
opposition politicians and society in general suspicious whenever the KMT
invokes the “DPP and pro-DPP gangs dunnit” explanation. Indeed, it should make
the KMT politically suspect in general.
Taiwan should mourn the loss of Huang. It should be saddened by the injuries
sustained by Lien. It should be enraged at senseless gang-related violence, but
it should also start asking the difficult, uncomfortable questions that need to
be asked if Taiwan’s society is not itself to become a casualty.
Asking questions like “Just what exactly are people affiliated with gangs doing
having relations with well-known KMT members and their families?” and “What are
these KMT politicians and their family members with gang affiliation doing
running for office?” is an excellent place to start.
However, these questions need to be asked soon. Otherwise, I’m afraid Taiwan’s
society is already a casualty and Taiwan’s democracy is merely farce.
Nathan Novak studies China and the Asia-Pacific region with a particular focus
on cross-strait relations at National Sun Yat-sen University.
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