Simon Chang's Fury and Lee Hsien Loong's Caveat

 Simon Chang's Fury and Lee Hsien Loong's Caveat

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

November 12, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

KMT presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu announced former premier Simon Chang as his running mate. Simon Chang, who has always given people the impression of being a well-tempered man, stepped forward because "I don’t want Tsai Ing-wen to get re-elected" as her governance was so messy as to render Taiwan to a debilitated state. On the same day, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in a speech, referred to the pessimism of the people in Taiwan and Hong Kong, saying bluntly that Taiwan’s spirit of "only by striving hard can you win" had become weakened, urging the Singaporean society to galvanize solidarity in order to avoid divisions.

For a non-partisan, semi-amateur political figure willing to become Han Kuo-yu’s running mate, Simon Chang did so out of his fury as an intellectual elite not being able to bear watching his country’s decline. Precisely because of this, his appeal that "I do not to want to let Tsai Ing-wen get re-elected" was so resolute and forceful.

When Lee Hsien Loong spoke of his lamentations about the situation in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and regretted that Taiwan's spirit of "only by striving hard can you win" became weakened, he in fact was deeply feeling compassion. "Only by striving hard can you win" used to be the spirit of resurgence encouraging Taiwan to rise from the ravages of war and poverty; it was the dynamo inspiring Taiwan people to carry a briefcase marching toward the world. However, times have changed; this government incessantly restricts the steps of the people, not allowing people to look westward, not allowing exchanges, imposing “one fixed holiday, one flexible day-off” with the thinking of the manufacturing industry, and following the dictates of the United States in all aspects. More ironically, Taiwan clear-cutly has independent sovereignty, yet the DPP, nevertheless, incessantly dwarfs itself by comparing itself to Hong Kong’s one country, two systems, making such depressing remarks as "Hong Kong today, Taiwan tomorrow".

Simon Chang said, "Don't let Tsai Ing-wen get re-elected" and Lee Hsien Loong said that Taiwan had lost the spirit of "only by striving hard can you win". In fact, it was not only his personal sad sentiments, but his deep compassion for Taiwan's decline. If we can’t see this point, Taiwan will fall into a far deeper abyss.

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