From "Apologizing to the Voters" to "Asking the Voters to Apologize"

 From "Apologizing to the Voters" to "Asking the Voters to Apologize"

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

August 23, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

President Tsai recently made startling remarks in Taichung, asking “Are former Taichung City mayor Lin Chia-lung’s political planks still being implemented? You people should apologize to someone,” “Don’t choose the wrong person in next year’s presidential election, nor vote for the wrong candidate in the next mayoral election." The subtext is that in last year’s election, Taichung citizens "elected the wrong person", thus should "apologize" to Lin Chia-lung, who lost the election.

Taiwan has been pushing for local government to full democratization, experiencing countless elections; the incidents that political figures ask voters to "apologize to someone losing an election” is unprecedented. This not only subverts democratic concepts, subverts the rights and obligations of voters and citizens who stand for public offices, but also inverts the position of "people are the masters."

Since the DPP assumed complete control of government in 2016, the tongues and countenance of arrogance have been staged repeatedly. It has relied on its own supermajority of seats in parliament, from “one fixed holiday, one flexible day-off” to annuities reform, it goes its own way in all policies, nearly listening to no voices of dissent. It oppresses dissidents with all means, from pushing for the crudely concocted transformational justice, the Green camp did not mind at all external criticisms.

After the stunning defeat of the nine-in-one local elections, Tsai Ing-wen resigned from the DPP chairmanship, and publicly apologized to the voters. This was what she said then: "I apologize to the party” for not caring well national governance; she also apologized to the voters, saying “the results of the elections clearly indicated that the people believed the DPP did not do well." Who knew in a short nine months, Tsai Ing-wen’s "apologizing to the voters" became "asking the voters to apologize." In the past, the Tsai government often shifted problems to the other side of the Strait, to the opposition party, and even to "anti-reformers". Now, she surprisingly shifted the responsibility to the voters, exacerbating her arrogant attitude.

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