Taiwan: campaign against president Chen
The campaign against the Taiwan president Chen Shiu-Bien started on last Saturday, 9 of September. Whether to support Bien or depose Bien, that’s the question for many Taiwanese bloggers:
Hung Wing tries to answer the question :
為什麼要倒扁, 是因為不希望國家再繼續空轉兩年, 每一個新的政策都需要時間來蘊釀推行, 我們的時間是很寶貴的…
為什麼要挺扁, 老實說我還真的想不到有任何的理由, 除了它是本土政權的代表, so what?
陳水扁他給自己訂了三大計劃，包括以台灣名義申請加入聯合國、推動台灣新憲法以及要求國民黨將黨產歸還給國家人民
不過看來看去,還是沒有經濟議題,或是有關民生的政策, 唉～
所以把其放在天平的兩端…嗯～該偏向那邊就很明顯了,
但這只是我
Why do we need to support Bien? To be frank, I can’t think of any reason except that it represents a local political power, so what?
Chen Shiu Bien have three major plans, including joining the United Nation, promoting new constitution and confiscate KMT’s party property and return them to the government.
I could not see any economic agenda here. Or any thing related with people’s livelihood. – gosh.
So if we put the two positions on to the balance, where should I side with becomes rather obvious.
But this is only my position.
Gaelow decides to join the protest because of Shih Ming-te's image (the leader of the campaign):
不管晴天或是雨天，老施的最後一役，我是決定要參加了。我記得在很小的時候，報紙上面刊出憲兵挨打的照片，尚未懂得政治的我，只覺得打憲兵很不應該，不多久，電視上就成天放著老施的相片，頭號通緝要犯，可能整形逃亡。那時候只覺得老施真是個壞人
However, even though Minimalism doesn’t support Bien, he could not make sense why people would participate in the anti-Bien campaign:
我只知道，這一次的活動，不管成功、失敗！
對我這種和政治絕緣的人，生活還是一樣。
對學生、對家庭主婦、對大多數的台灣人，不過是一場…”哦，倒扁嗎？你有去嗎？”
意義層面就停在”你有沒有參與的層面”罷了。
To students, housewife or the majority of Taiwan people, the campaign would be… “oh, the depose Bien campaign? Did you go?” The significance would only be “whether or not you have participate on that”.
Michael Turton criticizes mainstream media such as AP and BBC for being too one-sided and stresses that the campaign is a pan-blue event:
It's pathetic that the journalist didn't bother to do even the slightest bit of background research into these claims. I've commented here on the partisanship of the campaign innumerable times, but the truth is always worth repeating.
For those who choose to support Bien maintained that people should purge KMT first before deposing Bien. Go with my bear doubts whether this campaign is really meant for anti-corruption:
不可否認陳水扁的總統執政不及格，讓當出選他的人民失望。但是以「貪腐」為訴求拉他下台是包藏禍心的美麗糖衣。請先讓貪腐五十年的中國國民黨接受制裁可以嗎，陳水扁真的只是個「總統的見習生」，但是你我有選票最大的武器卻捨棄不用，白白讓台灣政治開回頭路。
沒有一台講到這些棒球新聞，都在講倒扁。一邊要倒扁，扁不想被倒，怎麼辦？有一台某名嘴說，馬英九可以結合無盟、親民黨修改公投法，讓人民提出公投案的門檻降低，讓人民用公投決定阿扁要不要下台！說得好…
Photos from Yuping
4 comments
Mr. Turton,
You criticize local media and some foreign media for being one-sided and not doing background check. “It’s pathetic that the journalist didn’t bother to do even the slightest bit of background research into these claims. I’ve commented here on the partisanship of the campaign innumerable times, but the truth is always worth repeating.”
Well, Mr. Turton, I happen to read AP copies on this coverage very closely. Funny that in my opinion, the bias is toward Chen Shui-bian if you ask me and in many recent articles on the Anti-Chen protest, the number of protesters in their copies was almost purposely downplayed to cut the importance of it.
You said reporters should do background check, good idea. And perhaps you should start yourself. Can I ask if you also chose your “side” on the matter? Have you investigated why so many media people, as well as local people, feel so strongly about this incompetent government that has squandered six years of Taiwan’s precious time?
Just because local media covered the matters consistently, does it necessarily mean people are controled by it? And I think as a good journalist one should be very careful not to reduce media behaviour to just “partisanship.” Reporters’ job, like you said, is reporting truth. And if what reporters discover is that this government is cheating people, hijacking important national issues, and ignoring major projects that are good for the future direction of Taiwan but instead to profit their own pocket, reporters too want to do something about it because they are citizens. As you know, in the West, there are plenty of time journalists are taking the role as crusader. I am not say all journalists should be like that. But in some important issues, reportesr can’t help but must take side. Can you stay neutral reporting on Nazi activity when Hitler, a democratically elected leader, was mass-murdering Jews? When George W. Bush lies to the people to go to his so-called war in the Middle East, can you stand pat and just reporting on what Bush tells you to write?
Please look deeper into the matter, Mr. Turton, and see why so many Taiwanese are angry.
The most important questions being a Taiwanese citizen must ask are:
– What are the plans when ousting the president is completed?
Besides the obvious reasons, what are those people ousting the president for if there is no backup plan to make the government better? Because looking back in history, no matter who was the party in power, they were all corrupted one way or the other. So obviously, something is wrong with the system.
What is Mr. Shih’s plan for that if indeed his purpose of this rally is to clean up the government? And what happened to the money that people donated? I called the campaign HQ and their answer was, “We’ve been too busy putting up the rallies so no one has been able to sort out the book.”
Democracy is people power. And people really do need to think about what they are going on the streets for other than the reasons that politicians tell them.
我有很多疑问。天下真的有这种人吗？烂政弄到人民生活困苦，自杀连连，还装着无事， 还搞什么去中国化来劳民伤财，来巩固自己的未来。对着那些已自杀的冤魂，你晚上还睡得好，真的写个服字。善有善报，恶有恶报。不是不报， 时辰未到。
好好保重，阿扁和他狐群狗党们。时辰会到的。