The KMT Must Prove the DPP Wrong

The KMT Must Prove the DPP Wrong
China Post Editorial
by Bevin Chu
March 15, 2009

"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule -- and both commonly succeed, and are right."
-- H.L. Mencken

During the eight years in which it was out of power, the KMT devoted its energies to proving that the DPP was unfit to rule. It succeeded admirably in its effort, because the DPP was grossly unfit to rule.

In 2008, voters swept the grossly unfit DPP out of office.

Now it is the DPP's turn to prove that the KMT is also unfit to rule. To the deep dismay of Pan Blue voters, the KMT seems determined to prove the DPP right.

Let's be clear about one thing. Suppose the DPP succeeds in proving that the KMT is unfit to rule. That hardly means the DPP is therefore fit to rule, let alone more fit to rule. That merely means the DPP is not alone in being unfit to rule. That hardly changes the fact that the DPP has always been far less fit to rule than the KMT.

Pan Green True Believers harbor a blind faith in the unassailable virtue of Pan Green rule. That blind faith in "Nativist Taiwanese" rule enabled the Chen regime to lead them around by the nose for eight years.

But Pan Blue voters do not harbor blind faith in KMT rule. Pan Blue voters are fully capable of drawing their own conclusions about whether the KMT is fit to rule.

Pan Blue voters gave the KMT a stern warning last Saturday when they chose independent Pan Blue candidate Kang Shih-ju over KMT candidate Chen Luan-ying in the Miaoli County by-election.

Miaoli is a Pan Blue stronghold. The Democratic Progressive Party did not even bother fielding a candidate in the Miaoli County by-election.

The Miaoli County by-election was forced upon voters when KMT legislator Lee Yi-ting was convicted of vote-buying. Lee lost his seat when the Taichung County High Court upheld his conviction.

Pan Blue voters cast their ballots for independent candidate Kang Shih-ju because the KMT, rather than apologize to its supporters, displayed open contempt for them by running Lee's wife Chen Luan-ying in his place. Pan Blue voters responded by sending the KMT a message.

KMT Chairman Wu Po-hsiung says the KMT lost the election because the 40% turnout was too low. But that completely misses the point. The turnout was too low because Pan Blue voters couldn't bring themselves to endorse a stand-in for a convicted felon. Many of those who did turn out voted for the independent candidate as a form of protest.

If the KMT continues to treat its Pan Blue supporters with such contempt, more warnings will follow. The next warning may arrive in two weeks. The Daan District by-election may turn out to be "Miaoli Redux."

Professional oddsmakers in Hong Kong are currently giving even money on independent Pan Blue candidate Yao Li-ming in his bid against KMT candidate Chiang Nai-hsing.

The Daan District is the Bluest district on the entire island, even Bluer than Miaoli. Daan District voter composition is 70% Blue and 30% Green.

The Daan District by-election was forced upon voters when KMT legislator Diane Lee lied about her US citizenship. Rather than side with its Pan Blue supporters, the KMT sided with KMT officials. Bad call.

The KMT needs to understand something. Pan Blue voters genuinely wish the KMT well. They want the KMT to remain in office for the next several decades. They want the KMT to make use of its time in office to do the right thing.That is why they handed the KMT such resounding victories in the last legislative and presidential elections.

They want the DPP to remain out of office for the next several decades, because the DPP made use of its time in office to do the wrong thing.

But Pan Blue voters, unlike Pan Green True Believers, are highly autonomous voters fully capable of thinking for themselves. For them it is not enough that KMT candidates are nominally Blue, they must be professionally competent, and even more importantly, morally upright.

They may never cast their ballots for the Pan Green presidential challenger in 2012, but they may boycott the election the way they boycotted the Miaoli County by-election. 

The prospect of a "Third Change in Ruling Parties," of the DPP returning to power in 2012 or 2016, is too appalling to contemplate. The ROC will never survive four more years of Pan Green misrule, let alone eight. The ROC would probably become a Third World banana republic, and never rise again.

The KMT must prove the DPP wrong. It must prove that the KMT is not unfit to rule. It can prove the DPP wrong by delivering on its campaign pledges, in particular its pledge to pass Sunshine Laws to ensure clean government.