Taiwan as the World Turns: the Three Pigs and the KMT Dominated Control Yuan, Pettiness at its Best.

Friday November 04, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

November has been termed the month of the "three pigs" in Taiwan, or the month of the "Great Piggy Bank Kerfuffle" What is at issue here is that a short while ago, three young children, inspired by their grandparents support for Tsai Ing-wen wanted to donate their piggy banks to Tsai's campaign fund. "Not So!" stated the Control Yuan, the nation's watchdog. These would be minors giving political donations and that is forbidden, as if the Control Yuan did not have any greater and worthier crimes that they should protect the nation from.

The issue of course immediately caught the attention of the public and the DPP, Tsai's party capitalized on this overkill by the Control Yuan. Immediately plastic piggy banks were made and handed out. The public demand was great. People could now give small campaign donations to the DPP and Tsai's cause.

But there is more to this than what can be called the overkill and penny-wise, pound-foolish protection of the nation by this decrepit body. What most people have forgotten is that the Control Yuan is dominated by KMT appointments, making it not the nation's watchdog but the KMT political watchdog.

What most are forgetting is that during the presidency of DPP Chen Shui-bian, 2000-2008, the KMT dominated Legislative Yuan (LY) refused to approve any of Chen's appointments. They refused not because the candidates did not lack the credentials, but because the KMT dominated LY would rather have the Control Yuan suffer from lack of members in order to control crime than to appoint anyone suggested by Chen Shui-bian.

This is the narrow minded pettiness that the voters need to remember when it comes time to elect Legislators in 2012. This is what really needs to be cleaned up in Taiwan. The nation will not be whole until the carpetbaggers are thrown out.