I’ll just throw in a link for now. Will translate later if I have the time, although English press will probably have something shortly.
DPP now second largest party in the legislative yuan, with 87 legislators.
udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS3/3238519.shtml
林為洲直指，政黨輪替後，不見民主政治日趨成熟，只見「搖頭丸政治」發揮極致，全國選民一分為二，相互征伐。這個社會不再有是非，不再有黑白，只有立場分明；立場決定一切，政治人物都清楚，做什麼都不重要，立場正確最重要。只要立場正確，連做壞事也沒關係。台灣沒有政黨政治，只有幫派政治；沒有責任政治，只有分贓政治。林為洲無奈地問，「這個社會到底怎麼了？民生議題為何不敵政治議題？政黨的功能為何擴張到這種地步？為何政黨能如此的左右著我們？」
Amen, brother.
[quote=“cctang”]I’ll just throw in a link for now. Will translate later if I have the time, although English press will probably have something shortly.
DPP now second largest party in the legislative yuan, with 87 legislators.
udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS3/3238519.shtml
林為洲直指，政黨輪替後，不見民主政治日趨成熟，只見「搖頭丸政治」發揮極致，全國選民一分為二，相互征伐。這個社會不再有是非，不再有黑白，只有立場分明；立場決定一切，政治人物都清楚，做什麼都不重要，立場正確最重要。只要立場正確，連做壞事也沒關係。台灣沒有政黨政治，只有幫派政治；沒有責任政治，只有分贓政治。林為洲無奈地問，「這個社會到底怎麼了？民生議題為何不敵政治議題？政黨的功能為何擴張到這種地步？為何政黨能如此的左右著我們？」
Amen, brother.[/quote]
No need, cctang. Babelfish did an EXCELLENT job of translating it for ME.
Clear as mud.
[quote=“irishstu”]No need, cctang. Babelfish did an EXCELLENT job of translating it for ME.
Clear as mud.
[/quote]
It’s so nice to see a politician talking sense for a change isn’t it? 
[quote=“irishstu”]No need, cctang. Babelfish did an EXCELLENT job of translating it for ME.
I like booty politics! 
[quote=“Maoman”][quote=“irishstu”]No need, cctang. Babelfish did an EXCELLENT job of translating it for ME.
I like booty politics! [/quote]
Couldn’t agree with you more Maoman. Because, as they say in my neck of the woods: “If booty politics the more, laid more the sexy I will have get.” Which, of course, originally comes from the classical Chinese reference: 如果贓物政治更多, 被放置的更多性感我有得到. I really have no idea what Lin Wei-chou is whinging about.
I’m sure his real reason for leaving is because the KMT offered him a kagillion dollars to do so. 
[quote=“Passing along a press report, cctang”]林為洲直指，政黨輪替後，不見民主政治日趨成熟，只見「搖頭丸政治」發揮極致，全國選民一分為二，相互征伐。這個社會不再有是非，不再有黑白，只有立場分明；立場決定一切，政治人物都清楚，做什麼都不重要，立場正確最重要。只要立場正確，連做壞事也沒關係。台灣沒有政黨政治，只有幫派政治；沒有責任政治，只有分贓政治。林為洲無奈地問，「這個社會到底怎麼了？民生議題為何不敵政治議題？政黨的功能為何擴張到這種地步？為何政黨能如此的左右著我們？」
[/quote]
Basically:
"Lin Weizhou has always said that after the handover of political power [to another party], we have not seen democratic politics steadily becoming mature; rather, what we have seen is “PCP/Ecstasy Politics” being played to the hilt, with the voters split into two camps, attacking each other. This society will never more have truth and falsehood, nor black and white; it will have only position statements. Positions decide everything, and politicians know well that it’s not important at all what you do, as long as you take the right position. If you have the right position, you can even do bad things and it won’t matter. Taiwan has no party politics, it has only sectarian/clique politics; it has no politics of responsibility, but only politics of splitting up the loot. Lin Weizhou asks in desperation, “What in the heck is going on with this society? Why don’t discussion topics among the people take on discussion topics of politicians? Why has the function of political parties expanded to this degree? Why are political parties controlling us in this fashion?” "
Disclaimer: I know NOTHING about politics in Taiwan other than who the president is, so any problems with nuance are probably because I have no idea what he’s talking about for the most part. But it was a nicely written Chinese passage: very euphonious.
Lin Weizhou is a member of the New Tide Faction. This is the largest bloc within the DPP. It has what has been termed “staunchly pro-independence”. Friction between the President and the New Tide Faction has been growing for years since President Chen has been trying to steer the party into a more moderate direction.
Not quite. Independent-leaning from a preference point of view, yes, but also pragmatic first and foremost.
The “New Tide” faction has been pushing, since the elections last fall, for non-governmental exchanges between mainland + Taiwanese academics for the discussion of cross-strait economic trade. They’ve railed consistently against Chen Shui-bian for polarizing Taiwanese society. They haven’t spoken out against pandas or the three links.
By the way, let me add that ironlady did an excellent job with the translation.
In a related article, Lin explicitly called out the green-supporters who attacked the Taipei airport, throwing eggs and waving halbards. He questioned how it was possible that these folks were considered heroes by some, just on the basis of their political position? He also asked the same rhetorical question of the pan-Blue woman head of the Bamboo Union Gang (… Phoenix brigade, I think?).
Two more DPP legislators are kicked out of the party. One was at-large, which means the Party can replace him with another DPP member. Over all, the DPP loses one more spot in the legislature which I assume will be filled in a special election later this year.
DPP now hold 86 seats.
It’s excellent for washing dirty laundry in public.