Tsai Ing-wen Has Undermined Not Only the DPP’s Primary Rules!

 Tsai Ing-wen Has Undermined Not Only the DPP’s Primary Rules!

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

May 10, 2019

Translation of an Excerpt

In the primary disputes between Tsai Ing-wen and Lai Ching-te, both sides have intensified their firepower in the rivalry over whether cell phones should be included in the opinion polls for the primary. Following the DPP Central Standing Committee’s postponement of the timetable for the primary, Tsai Ing-wen once again attempted to change the party’s primary rules in order to seek the best winning possibilities. We should not consider this as the DPP’s "household matter"; in fact, Tsai Ing-wen’s hand has endlessly stretched into the system of state: hiking of restrictions in the “State Secret Protection Act”, the employment of a party comrade to be chairman of the Central Election Committee, amending the “Judges Act” with an attempt to meddle in the judiciary, etc., all have undermined the rules of government operations in order to benefit the DPP; the public ought to be on the alert and in fear.

When the general public witness Tsai Ing-wen's brutal performance against Lai Ching-te, they saw that she thought nothing of undermining the DPP's presidential primary system; quite a few people only harbor the mentality of a bystander "watching a good show." However, the public must be alerted that a person unmindful of the rules of the democratic game, if she could at will even undermine the party’s primary rules, she naturally would not cherish or respect the impartiality or wholesomeness of the system of state.

Recently, under the cover that all circles had focused their attention on the Blue and Green primaries, the ruling party has launched a series of actions to undermine the democratic system and rules of the game. For instance, the DPP a couple of days ago railroaded the legislative action in amending the “State Secret Protection Act”, extending for three more years the period of control for visiting the Mainland on the part of Ma Ying-jeou, Wu Den-yih, and others, who would have been able to go after May 20 in the original legislation; would such a highhanded and egoistic government respect the rules of the game? In addition, the amendment to the “Plebiscite Act” and the nomination of Lee Chin-yung both never intended to cover the DPP’s attempt to stretch its hand into the electoral process. Including the amendment bill to the “Judges Act”, proposing to allow pro-Green groups to monopolize evaluations of judges, meddling in the judiciary, how could this be called an approach under the sunshine?

If Tsai Ing-wen wants to win in the primary, she must start from listening and responding to vox populi, and not by brutal, highhanded tactics.

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