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EDITORIAL:
Opportunities and responsibilities
With survey after survey showing abysmal numbers, it is by now pretty clear that
the general sentiment regarding the performance of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)
and his Cabinet is overwhelmingly negative. While the opposition sees such
dissatisfaction as a tremendous opportunity to regain power, it would be a grave
mistake to assume that the current situation will automatically translate into
votes for them.
Above all, the public feels it has been let down by Ma and his less-than-stellar
group of Cabinet officials, and the willingness of Taiwanese to continue buying
Ma’s promises about a brighter future is wearing thin. One can only wait so long
for Godot.
As Ma’s popularity rating approaches the single-digit zone, the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) is naturally feeling elated, seeing this as a sign of
possible major gains in the seven-in-one elections in 2014 and the more distant
presidential election in 2016.
However, while this indeed creates an opportunity for the DPP, it also adds new
responsibilities, including the need for the pan-green camp to give Taiwanese
hope about the future of their nation. Simply bashing the president when he is
at his most vulnerable, or calling for a Cabinet reshuffle, is not enough. In
fact, doing so would probably ensure that, low numbers notwithstanding, the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will perform better than expected in 2014 and
prevail again in 2016.
Giving hope entails presenting policy alternatives that are clearly communicated
to the public and relevant to people’s welfare. Making headway will involve a
thorough, and by no means easy, rejuvenation of the party through new leadership
that looks to the future rather than the past. For this to come about, the party
will need to be led not by extraordinary individuals who did extraordinary
things 30 years ago, but by young people, whose future and country are shaped by
the decisions made today.
The DPP will have to do much more to cultivate young talent, and youth programs
that involve top-down lecturing by party officials — which tends to permanently
turn young people off politics — is not how to go about it. It is of little
surprise that the ongoing student mobilization against media monopolization —
the largest and most comprehensive youth movement in three decades — has
remained distant from political parties, including the DPP, which shares their
concerns about freedom of speech.
No doubt, the KMT is equally inept at attracting young talent, and its potential
candidates for 2016 are rather underwhelming. This would be comforting if all
things were equal, but that is the problem — all things are not equal. The DPP
does not have the advantage of money and it never will. The personal fortune of
Ma’s diplomat-at-large, former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), alone is several
times that of the entire pan-green camp, while the disparity in resources
between the KMT and the DPP simply boggles the mind. What the DPP therefore
needs is the advantage of ideas.
If the DPP is to become a truly relevant party for current and future young
generations of Taiwanese, it will have to find ways to appeal to them and give
youth the respect they deserve. Only by joining the political experience that
comes with age with the idealism and creativity of young minds will the twain
come together to present the kind of front that can truly defeat the KMT and
meet the challenges presented by China.
The future leaders are among us now, but a longstanding tradition of paternalism
is preventing them from finding their voice. One person seems to understand the
need to reach out to young people, to inspire them and to equip them with the
wisdom that comes with experience. In recent weeks, former president Lee
Teng-hui (李登輝) has toured school campuses to talk and listen to students, and
above all to give them hope. For the sake of the DPP’s — and Taiwan’s — future,
this is well worth emulating.
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