[quote=“Chewycorns”]Omni,
I’m quite interested in your political turnaround. You used to be one of the most diehard Chen supporters. While I won’t deny that Ma is far better presidential material than Hsieh, aren’t you a little worried about some of Ma’s controllers? Aren’t you worried about having a president and 2/3 of the legislature in one party’s hands? Of course, for economic matters that is probably a good thing. However, it’s always good to have checks and balances IMHO. I guess in my own case, I haven’t switched from one to another. I’ve gone from being an enthusiastic supporter of one party to being almost indifferent about the whole thing.[/quote]
I’ve never been a fan of Chen’s, and was very happy when Ma beat him in the Taipei mayoral election. However, in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, I supported him as the lesser, by far, of two evils - having Lien or Soong, or even worse the pair together, in the presidential office would have been appalling beyond contemplation. The only redeeming aspect of Chen’s tenure as president is that things would have been even worse if he’d lost either of those elections.
I always call things as I see them at the time, uninfluenced by blind allegiance to or antipathy toward either side of the blue-green divide. Whichever side puts up the best candidates and offers the best prospects for Taiwan will get my support. I have very high regard for both people on the KMT ticket this time, moderate regard for the DPP’s vice presidential candidate, and a rapidly plunging opinion of the DPP’s presidential candidate. In my judgment, it will be overwhelmingly in Taiwan’s best interests to elect Ma and Siew, and therefore I’m rooting strongly for that to happen.
Yes, there are dangers that the reactionary, more corrupted elements in the KMT will hold too much sway after the election, with deleterious effects in many spheres of life on Taiwan. But I do have quite a lot of faith that, once firmly ensconced in the presidency, Ma will be able to undertake the kinds of reforms within his party that I believe he has always aspired to but has not had sufficient power to push for in the past.
Also, I am sure it will be a lot better for Taiwan to have one party in control of the legislative and executive branches of government, with the other party acting as a genuine opposition, rather than the mess we have now under Taiwan’s flawed neither-one-thing-nor-the-other political system. There is no balance now, just a damaging state of semi-paralysis. I would like to see Taiwan adjust its constitution to adopt a cabinet system of government, in which the majority party in the legislature forms the government and the president exercises much reduced powers. I expect we will see a move toward that under Ma’s presidency.
