林保華

True happiness has a green face
By Paul Lin 林保華

One of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) campaign slogans, “proven in government,” has been confirmed by a survey carried out by the Chinese--language magazine CommonWealth, which shows the DPP’s approval rating is higher than that of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) pretty much across the board. The electorate has shown they approve of what the DPP is doing, and the party is now rebounding.

In the campaign for the five special municipality elections, the DPP candidates have refused to be provoked by the KMT’s smear tactics, insisting instead on comparing their political competence with their KMT counterparts. This has President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who also acts as KMT chairman, panicking and running around campaigning like a man possessed. It looks like the DPP have struck the right chord.

Two weeks ago, the Taiwan Youth Anti-Communist Corps traveled to Kaohsiung and Tainan. The pan-green camp is in power in both these areas, testimony to the fact that its leaders are, indeed, “proven in government.” If they weren’t, the polls wouldn’t be showing the KMT trailing them.

Kaohsiung came a long way when former mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) was in power, but four years ago, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) only beat her opponent Huang Chun-ying (黃俊英) by the slimmest of margins. In the 2008 presidential elections, the DPP got fewer votes than the KMT in Kaohsiung, leading to claims that the Kaohsiung electorate was fickle. In the intervening years, the people of Kaohsiung have experienced pressure from China and Chen was targeted in a smear campaign orchestrated by the pan-blue camp.

This has done little to erode her level of support, suggesting that voters in Kaohsiung are not so fickle after all. The residents of Kaohsiung have been taken in by Ma once: Are they really going to fall for the same spiel again? On Nov. 14, workers in the soon-to-be Greater Kaohsiung area came out in force to support Chen.

Two days prior, on Nov. 12, the Chinese-language newspaper Economic Daily News carried an article saying Yieh Phui Enterprise had been incensed by Hon Hai’s decision to source steel in China, reducing the amount of steel Yieh Phui would supply to Hon Hai by 60 percent. The decision could also impact China Steel. Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) had originally announced, in an effort to support Ma, that he would invest more money in Kaohsiung.

Not only has this increased investment failed to materialize, the company is directing more investment to China and reducing the amount of raw materials sourced in Taiwan. This translates to people losing jobs in Kaohsiung and it is just one of the consequences of signing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China.

The government has been touting the ECFA’s role in the rise in GDP. What officials don’t say is that ordinary people will not see any of the money because it will be skimmed off the top either by China or big business. However, the government has shifted its emphasis to a general feeling of “happiness” that the public should be feeling.

Look at the experience of China, the country that currently boasts the highest rate of GDP growth in the world. This hasn’t stopped all kinds of strange phenomena from happening there, including incidents of human rights being trampled on. There was the case, for example, of the father of one of the toxic baby milk powder victims, who was jailed for “inciting social disorder” because he set up a support group Web site for other parents that were similarly affected.

No wonder the Mainland Affairs Council doesn’t dare make claims in China on the behalf of Taiwanese businesses. If it did, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) might find herself booked on a one-way flight to China where she could be thrown in a Chinese jail thanks to the Agreement on Jointly Cracking Down on Crime and Mutual Legal Assistance Across the Strait. How is the Taiwanese public supposed to have a sense of happiness when they are worried about their country being swallowed up by China or about losing their jobs?

DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has served as both a county commissioner and premier. Not even pan-blue supporters in Taipei City can doubt his competence to govern. If they could see through the partisan -smokescreen that Ma is spewing and vote Su in, they could look forward to a future with even more development, improved housing, better transportation and new leisure facilities. In addition, DPP Greater Tainan mayoral candidate William Lai (賴清德) would build on the work done by Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) and bring a new sense of vigor to that old city.

This is precisely what DPP Chairperson and Sinbei City mayoral candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) means with her campaign slogan, “a new happiness and a new era.” Tsai has said that achieving happiness is actually quite easy, it just entails looking after the things, both big and small, that affect people. The reason the DPP can do this is because their heart is with Taiwan and not with China.

In contrast, the KMT just seems content to meddle in the corruption cases engulfing former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). In fact, the majority of scandals over the past couple of years have involved politicians belonging to the KMT, but it’s always those at the local level that end up being made the scapegoat. Far be it for the inner sanctum of the KMT to be tainted. They are the “untouchables.”

The path to happiness is there for the taking. It the Taiwanese public want to go down it, the direction couldn’t be more clear. All they need do is give their votes to the people who represent Taiwan’s interests, the pan-green candidates.

Paul Lin is a Taipei-based political commentator.

TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER

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