Ma and Tsai, let the games begin! (Part I)

TAIPEI, Taiwan--President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) won 58% of the vote. Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) won 57% of the vote. On May 18th, she became the 12th-term Chairperson of the DPP. On May 20th, he was inaugurated as the 12th-term President of Taiwan. Two peas in a pod? Hardly.

Let me start with the one I prefer out of the pair. A couple days before the DPP chair election, I attended a press conference for Tsai held by some young members of the DPP. I was happy to support her for the simple reason that her opponent was Koo Kwan-min (辜寬敏). I was indifferent to him until he made some rather offensive comments.

He said that the job of turning the DPP around should not be left up to unmarried woman, an insult to Tsai on 2 fronts. This was not the first time that he has made such remarks. In a reference to former Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), he had said that running the country was not for people in skirts. Sure, he comes from a different era, as the man is in his 80s. But if he really feels that way, then he should be running to lead a democratic party, not the Democratic Progressive Party.

This was my 2nd time seeing Tsai in person. The 1st was during my college days when she made a trip to the US as Chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council. She spoke on cross-strait relations, first in English and then in Chinese. At the very beginning, she apologized for not being able to speak in Taiwanese, saying that she grew up in Taipei. It is a symbolic step as the DPP embarks on taking the middle road and widening its appeal that she is really the first chairperson who does not use Taiwanese at all.

This time, I made notes during her speech at the press conference (she even borrowed notebook paper from me). She was able to summarize just exactly why politics in Taiwan is so important to so many people. She mentioned that we live in a unique political environment due to our international status and that the nation’s future is a complicated one that requires constantly thinking and reacting strategically. It is also the responsibility of all Taiwanese people, and the youth in particular cannot afford to be ambivalent to Taiwan’s future. She also said that 20 years ago, people were protesting in the streets. Others were scared of politics. Now, members of the younger generation are sitting here and unafraid. Tsai ended by saying that while she is comforted by young people’s involvement, she also feels the pressure from those of us sitting one row behind her.

During the Q&A session, one reporter asked: now that young people have endorsed you, what are you going to give them in return? Tsai responded by saying that she would consider appointing a young deputy chairperson (she has yet to do so). She went on: What kind of party will I give them? I will give them a clean party, one that is cooperative and welcoming, one that includes women and rational debate, one that is aggressive on Taiwan’s democracy, and a party that respects all groups of people.

She won the chair election by a large margin, but it wasn’t always supposed to be that way. Acting chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) had first proposed to hold negotiations for the position. His reasoning was that bitter campaigning would cause further damage to the party after its defeat in the presidential election. I just could not understand this. The party that took to the streets to ask for direct elections of the presidency should, naturally, hold one for its own leader. In the end, though it wasn’t pretty at times, the DPP contest was fair and square.

Only a few days after President Ma’s victory, the notoriously-speculative media predicted that Tsai could run against Ma when he is up for re-election in 2012. It’s obviously too early to tell, but she may well have to win the Taipei mayorship in 2010. As if it were an unwritten stepping-stone, all of the directly-elected Presidents (Lee, Chen and Ma) have once served as mayor of the capital.

But first, Tsai will have to deal with mayoral elections in several counties and townships at the end of 2009, which will serve as a big test during her 2-year term. While she has already said that she can’t promise a home run, she has promised at least a single. If the DPP doesn’t do well in those elections, by tradition Tsai will very likely have to step down. And we’ll have to endure another bowing session by party leaders. Unfortunately, we’ve seen enough of those during the past 8 years.

It’s the economy, stupid.

TAIPEI, Taiwan--This is the platform that led Bill Clinton to the Oval Office in 1992. It is also the reason for Ma Ying-jieu’s (馬英九) convincing win in 2008.

Frank Hsieh’s (謝長廷) campaign focused on just a handful of issues. He beat them like a dead horse, but in the end he still couldn’t bring down the horse. It was a contest with Hsieh going on the offensive with negative attacks, while Ma played defense the entire time. His strategy was simply not to blow the big lead and just wait for the final buzzer to sound.

Hsieh camp: Ma still has a valid green card.

Ma camp: It became invalid after he applied for a US visa.

It’s a gray area. Ma couldn’t produce evidence that he formally renounced the green card (because he didn’t), but the unwritten rule goes that if you don’t set foot on US soil for a year it automatically becomes invalid. Why else do people go to Guam?

Hsieh camp: Taiwan will become the next Tibet.
Ma: Taiwan is not China. Neither is it Hong Kong.

While the Tibet crackdowns may have been good timing, Taiwanese people tend not to focus on international news. Rarely do big stories elsewhere get substantial airtime. Unlike Ju Rong-ji’s (朱鎔基) finger-wagging in 2000, this was not a direct threat. Double endorsements from Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Lee Yuan-tse (李遠哲) didn’t have much of an effect either. The Nobel Laureate’s credibility had gone down the drain after endorsing Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) the past 2 times.

Hsieh camp: One-party rule will be just like the old KMT days.
Ma camp: We will exercise restraint.

Hsieh faced an uphill battle. President Chen was elected on a platform of ruling out the “black-gold” corruption of the KMT, and he messed up. He should take much of the heat for this election loss, and kudos to Duan Yi-kang (段宜康) for finally coming out and saying so. It’s hard to have any sympathy for Chen and his family when you see them enjoying the good life. Not only was Chao Chien-ming’s (趙建銘) bank account getting bigger and bigger but so was his waistline.

Hsieh camp: A common market will be destructive.
Ma camp: It will improve the economy.

The Trojan Horse at the DPP’s 316 rally was a brilliant attempt at warning people of the dangers of a common market. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. I’m no NAFTA expert, but I do know that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama want to touch that issue again with a 10-foot pole. In the 1990s, Americans sure found those nice, cheap Japanese cars hard to resist, leading to a huge trade imbalance. Though I’m sure parents will be less tempted to buy Made in China dolls, you know, those stuffed with used (but bleached) maxi pads.

President Chen asked the South to carry the DPP to victory again, but they actually lost the vote there. Free rides on the brand-new Kaohsiung subway didn’t help. Kaohsiung voters ditched their former mayor in favor of hopes of prosperity. That had to hurt. When you see the incredible leverage that China has in the world, it’s hard not to get jealous. Closer ties with China may be good for Taiwan’s lagging economy, but these are delicate issues that are beyond Ma’s abilities without selling us out. I can only hope that Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) is a brighter bulb.

Don’t cry for me, Taiwan

Now thanks to her, 42% of the Taiwanese population will no longer make the “yay!” gesture when having their picture taken, which is really for the better.

TAIPEI, Taiwan--This take on the most famous song from Evita (sung as part of a victory celebration) may have become the most famous part of Frank Hsieh’s (謝長廷) concession speech. He took full responsibility for the loss and blamed no one.

In 2000, KMT supporters, shocked by the victory of Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), rioted outside their own headquarters asking for the resignation of then chairman Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). Ma Ying-jieu (馬英九) was right there with them. In 2004, having lost for the 2nd straight time, Lien Chan (連戰) demanded that the results be invalidated because he felt the assassination attempt on Chen and Lu the day before was a DPP-concocted conspiracy. Right…

The KMT’s actions in those 2 elections can only suggest that they believe their party is entitled to the highest office in the land for the next 5000 years. The DPP has been spoiled by miraculous comebacks the past 2 times. How are their supporters reacting to this tough blow? They’re consoling each other. They’re looking inward and going forward. They’re writing blogs.

I doubt that the KMT and their supporters truly understand or respect the democratic process. I was particularly annoyed at the media attention given to a bunch of has-been celebrities living overseas who returned to vote, as if they were still important (or famous) enough to have any sway at all. One of them was the actress Brigitte Lin (林青霞). One reporter even interviewed her inside her hotel suite, and she started to show off her LV bags and Chanel suits, pondering what to wear for election day. Why in hell is this news?

Of course, cameras followed her to the polling station. It took her 2 full minutes to come out of the booth. The next day, there’s a report that she cast an invalid ballot because she stamped her name on it. Apparently, this wasn’t the first time that she’s messed up. 4 years ago, she came out of the booth blowing on the ballot (to let the ink dry) like it was hot oatmeal about to go into a baby’s mouth and flashed it before the cameras.

Perhaps it’s forgivable that she failed to appreciate one of the most basic tenets of democracy--the anonymous ballot. But this is not: while DPP officials cast a ballot for both UN referendums, Lien Chan did not. Ma only voted for the one sponsored by his own party. Former President Lee pulled his wife away from the referendum table entirely. These people are supposed to be leaders of the country?

There was another fundamental problem with the voting procedure that was adopted by the central government. It was not truly a one-step process. Your choice of whether or not to take the referendum ballots at all labeled you. When I took those few extra steps to the referendum table, I already felt like an outcast. No words were spoken, but you could understand through people’s eyes.

When Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote his song, Argentina was in the midst of civil unrest. When Hsieh addressed the crowd with his words, he ensured that Taiwan would not follow the same path.