Terminate the DPP’s Complete Control of Government and Complete Dictatorship

 Terminate the DPP’s Complete Control of Government and Complete Dictatorship

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 7, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

The DPP used to have ideals of trumping authoritarianism and pushing for democratic reforms; now it has departed far from the core ideals of ​​democracy - pluralism, inclusiveness, communication, respect for dissent, and the ideal that oversight as well as checks and balances are the foundation of a democratic system, now they no longer exist. The DPP, under the leadership of Tsai Ing-wen, won the presidency and a majority of seats in the parliament in 2016; since it secured complete control of government, what the people have witnessed is not complete responsibility, but complete control of government and complete dictatorship.

With regard to the distance between the DPP and democracy, we may look at it from four aspects. First, inside the DPP, pluralistic competition and voices of dissent are being suppressed; the decision-making power is concentrated at the highest level, demonstrating a status of monopoly of power internally. Major decision-making has not undergone substantive debate; without room for holistic utterances; even with regard to questionable parts of policies, no one dares to challenge openly. The Tsai Ing-wen faction is in control, the New Tide faction fights for fat cat positions, while other factions are withering one after another.

The second aspect is in the Legislative Yuan. This may again be divided into two facets. One is that the legislative caucus may be described as nearly subservient to the instructions from the high echelon of the Presidential Palace and the Cabinet. Although this is the normal situation of party politics, the parliament represents the people in overseeing the executive branch of government. If it serves as a rubber stamp or a battle group, then it is a betrayal of the people it represents. The second is that in legislative proceedings, the DPP caucus, relying on the advantage of the majority, is rarely willing to communicate and compromise with its rival KMT caucus. A Legislative Yuan which originally could make policies closer to public opinion has thus lost the functions of coordinating pluralistic opinions; the DPP’s majoritarian status has become majoritarian bullying, with no one to check and balance biased legislation.

The third aspect lies between the ruling and opposition parties. The DPP has been doing bitter battles with the KMT, using the majority to suppress the opposition in parliament, frantically pinning “fellow traveler” labels on the KMT in the media, never trying to communicate or engage in cooperation on even some of the issues. Since President Tsai took office, when has she exhibited an iota of respect toward the opposition party?

The fourth aspect lies in the entire society. Since the Tsai government came to office, cross-Strait relations have been mired in stagnation, the domino effect has been shown in diplomacy, economic/trade performance has not been good, energy policies have deviated from public opinion, political patronage has been doled out regardless of criticism, thus the record of national governance has been dismal, yet it has used the Sinophobia card to incite emotions of the people.

The DPP has forgotten democracy; it lacks adequate checks and balances both inside and outside the party. Thus, the voters cannot but erect checks and balances, not allowing the DPP to continue controlling the Presidential Palace, the Cabinet, and the parliament, so as to let Taiwan keep its lifeline for a democratic system as well as pluralistic freedom and culture. In the 2020 legislative elections, under the consideration of safeguarding Taiwan's democratic mechanism, voters on the one hand should mete out stringent punishment on the "Democratic Retrogressive Party" and on the other terminate the complete dictatorship under this complete control of government.

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