Getting Rid of the Hypocritical KMT Carpetbaggers Once and for All!

Thursday November 25, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

A new broom sweeps clean; that is certainly what Taiwan needs in the coming elections in order to get rid of the privileged KMT carpetbaggers once and for all. Taiwan needs change, change that is pro-Taiwan and not pro-China as the continued insulting efforts of Ma Ying-jeou have been. In the past two and a half years under the failed 6-3-3 promises of Ma, Taiwan has seen continued humiliation and failed promises from the man who has no concept of what Taiwanese identity is about. Neither does his premier, nor do all the KMT candidates up for mayors of the five major municipalities. They all must go.

Examine the two-faced hypocrisy of the KMT leader, Ma. When it is election time, he says he is pro-Taiwan and that Taiwan has national sovereignty. He even claims that all China belongs to Taiwan and that is why Taiwan should subsidize Chinese students coming here. But when representatives of China appear on the scene Ma hides the national flag and introduces himself as Mr. Ma. When Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo was imprisoned in China, Ma hesitated to demand his freedom till after he saw that world opinion completely supported Liu. Then he came out with a weak statement. As Mayor of Taipei, Ma had a failed track record and lived on promises without performance. This still continues into his presidency with Typhoon Morokat and the US Beef Scandal ever eroding any previous trust in him.

Ma is of course followed by his Premier, Wu Den-yih, a man whose word has even less trust than Ma's. Premier Wu feels it is his privilege to insult and call the DPP leaders "pimps" but if anyone criticizes the KMT they will threaten to sue them. Do they seem to believe that they should have the privilege of their one-party state martial law days? When the Associated Press (AP) wrote something critical of Ma, they were told to re-write it. A talk show host expressed his anger by cursing, the KMT threatened to sue him and demanded the opposition party apologize despite the fact that the host is not a party member. It appears that the DPP must apologize for anyone and everyone that says something critical of the KMT. A political parody is made of the inept Jason Hu and Hu's girls; the perpetrators, Kuso Cat, are similarly threatened with lawsuits. It is as if Taiwan had returned to the stifling era of Chiang Kai-shek; no one can say anything critical of the KMT without threat of lawsuit or life. The KMT must feel they can control the courts. Nonetheless, Ma's Premier can call people pimps and other KMT party members can cast slurs on opponents freely. KMT members have get out of jail free cards.

As for the KMT mayoral candidates, they all are there because they are privileged children of the KMT's one-party state carpetbagger families. They have all profited from that era; and they all promise to continue to support the ineptitude of Ma's administration. Jason Hu who has let crime and corruption grow in Taichung city for nine years, now wants to extend that into Taichung County. Hau Lung-bin has four negative years of failed, costly gondolas, subway expansions, Tun Hua South Road tear ups and tear downs, Flora Expo cost inflation and Xinyi Overpass scandals; now he wants another four years to patronize those who profit from his contracts. Eric Chu, who took over from the totally inept KMT Chou Hsi-wei promises to continue the KMT ineptitude and support of Ma's policies. Throughout this whole negative KMT campaign there has been little to show of party accomplishments but only a bad-mouthing of the opposition.

The do-nothing Legislative Yuan where the KMT has always had and still controls the majority continues to hold Taiwan back. Their turn to be ousted will come in two years. For now voters will have to settle on getting rid of the KMT mayoral candidates who want to do nothing but dole out contracts to their friends. A new broom sweeps clean; so let it be on November 27.