DPP National Party Congress: No Policy Platform, but Plenty of Vote-Buying

DPP National Party Congress: No Policy Platform, but Plenty of Vote-Buying
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
July 16, 2012

Summary: Yesterday the Democratic Progressive Party held its National Party Congress. The starting price for one vote was 300,000 New Taiwan Dollars. This heralded the advent of the "Su Tseng-chang Era." Ironically, the theme of this National Party Congress was "Go forth, Taiwan!" Community expectations for the DPP were placed under the spotlight. What sort of issues were raised? None. What sort of atmosphere prevailed? One of utter indifference. Factions attempted to get the jump on each other in their quest for ever more political power. The party did nothing to respond to society's aspirations.


Full Text below:

Yesterday the Democratic Progressive Party held its National Party Congress. The starting price for one vote was 300,000 New Taiwan Dollars. This heralded the advent of the "Su Tseng-chang Era." Ironically, the theme of this National Party Congress was "Go forth, Taiwan!" Community expectations for the DPP were placed under the spotlight. What sort of issues were raised? None. What sort of atmosphere prevailed? One of utter indifference. Factions attempted to get the jump on each other in their quest for ever more political power. The party did nothing to respond to society's aspirations.

The results of yesterday's Central Executive Committee and Standing Committee elections are in. Su Tseng-chang relied on his new invisible network to consolidate power. The Frank Hsieh and Yu Shyi-kun camps gained strength. Tsai Ing-wen was the only one who kept her distance from the party leadership. But this distance was virtual, not actual. What does this tell us? It tells us Su Tseng-chang, Frank Hsieh, and Yu Shyi-kun remain the "party princes." Their factions have seized power. The DPP has made zero progress since Chen Shui-bian's rampant corruption and reckless Taiwan independence antics led to its loss of power in 2008. All it has left behind is black marks and an empty resume. The players may have changed, but not the game.

The Special Investigation Unit is currently investigating the Lin Yi-shi case. Meanwhile, the price of one vote in the DPP Central Executive Committee election has been bid up. It has increased from 300,000 dollars a vote to 700,000 or even 800,000 dollars a vote. This is something hard to imagine. One. The Executive Council and the Central Standing Committee are the highest authorities within the party. If its members are elected through vote-buying, how can their future decisions possibly be fair and objective? Two. The DPP has been castigating Lin Yi-shi for taking bribes. So why is it ignoring vote-buying within its own party? Three. Local KMT city and county council elections were often occasions for "night after night of free food, sale upon sale of bought votes." Now such scenes are being reenacted by the DPP at luxury hotels throughout Taipei City. The participants think the asking price of 300,000 dollars per vote is "very reasonable." Given such attitudes, what is one to make of Su Tseng-chang's promise to "lead the DPP and win the public trust?

The nation and the world are in dire straits. The public hoped the DPP National Party Congress would offer suggestions on how to save the nation and the world. But party representative proposals lacked insight into party and national affairs. Worse, their proposals betrayed a pattern of bigotry. All in all, it was deeply disappointing. For example, Trong Chai proposed recalling Blue Camp legislators who supported the importation of US beef containing Clenbuterol. He promptly obtained 50 signatures from party representatives. Some proposed that the DPP Central Committee establish a "Save Ah-Bian Group." Su Tseng-chang signed Ko Wen-je's "Medical Parole for Ah-Bian" petition. DPP party representatives demagogued the "Support Ah-Bian" and "Save Ah-Bian" movements to the hilt. The former merely increased political squabbling. The latter merely pandered to diehard Ah-Bian supporters. Neither did anything to improve the DPP's public image. Yet these became the utterly repellent themes of the entire party congress.

President Ma's approval rating has plummeted to a mere 15%. The KMT's approval rating following Lin Yi-shi's corruption scandal has reached a nadir. The DPP is feeling self-satisfied and smug. But the DPP must realize that its opponent's infirmity will not enhance its own vitality. The DPP must remedy its own weaknesses. DPP leaders must persuade voters of their own ability. When they mount the podium, they will inevitably reveal their true colors. The memory of Chen Shui-bian era Taiwan independence antics and rampant corruption will resurface in the public consciousness. If Su Tseng-chang cannot get through even this bottleneck, how can he talk about breaking the deadlock for Taiwan?

When news of DPP party representatives flagrantly buying votes emerged, a few DPP members engaged in soul-searching. But most voiced no objections whatsoever. They considered these bribes "merely the cost of doing business." Most disgusting of all, some Green Camp faithful rationalized this vote-buying. They argued that "This is not a public election. It's perfectly legal to buy votes." Do Su Tseng-chang and the DPP consider this "vote-buying is legal" argument acceptable?

Ironically the National Party Congress debated whether party members should be allowed to vote in the party primaries. Party leaders objected, saying "the Kuomintang might meddle," or "prosecutors might meddle." Meanwhile, they turned a blind eye to machine voting and vote-buying. Does the DPP see its own shortcomings? Or does it only know how to point the finger at others? Vote-buying in the National Party Congress has become this flagrant. If party members are once again allowed to vote, how high will machine voters bid up the price of a single vote in the party primaries? Does the DPP even know?

The public wants "Go forward, Taiwan!" to be a reality. But when people look at the DPP's behavior, they see no leadership. They see no forward movement. The DPP National Party Congress was yet another occasion on which the DPP failed to offer a political vision. Even Su Tseng-chang's own speech was vague and incomprehensible. This suggests that the DPP's vision for Taiwan is more constricted than ever. This suggests that its ability to lead Taiwan is more feeble than ever.

The DPP must transform its cross-Strait policy. Su Tseng-chang, Tsai Ing-wen, and Frank Hsieh remain locked in political struggle. The only news emerging from the DPP National Party Congress concerns vote-buying, not political vision. This tells us the DPP is on trial. The jury is still out, and the verdict is still unknown. 

未聞政見卻聞買票的民進黨全代會
【聯合報╱社論】

2012.07.16

民進黨昨天的全代會，在「一票卅萬起跳」的買票風聲伴奏下，宣告了「蘇貞昌時代」的來臨。諷刺的是，這次全代會主題標榜「前進吧！台灣」，還把各界菁英對民進黨的期許拍攝得意境深遠；但觀察場上的議題和氣氛，除了派系卡位奪權，卻看不出整個黨有多少回應台灣社會的作為。

昨天的中執委及中常委選舉結果，蘇貞昌靠隱形的新系鞏固權力中樞；謝長廷和游錫?人馬斬獲突出，唯蔡英文選擇暫與黨中央保持距離，卻未實際遠離。這個結構，說明黨內權力目前仍為「蘇謝游天王」及派系奪權的格局；但深一層看，自2008年民進黨因扁貪瀆與台獨操作而丟掉政權後留下的汙點及空白，除了人的變化，黨的轉型在基本上毫無進展。

正在特偵組偵辦林益世案之際，這次民進黨中執委的價碼，從一票卅萬元起跳喊到七、八十萬元，這是令人難以想像的事。第一，中執會及中常會是黨的最高權力機關，如果委員竟是靠買票產生，決策還能公正客觀嗎？第二，民進黨先前對林益世索賄極盡冷嘲熱諷，為何竟放縱黨內買票、賣票？第三，「連夜宴飲、固票換票」過去是國民黨地方議會選舉常見的景象，現在竟由民進黨全本照搬到台北的大飯店演出，且當事人還振振有詞覺得開價卅萬「很合理」。這種心態，要如何實現蘇貞昌所說的「引導民進黨更被人民信賴」？

世局國情艱險嚴峻，國人原想在民進黨的全代會上能夠聽到經世救國的大政方針；但看各路黨代表在會上的提案，不僅缺乏事關黨政大局之創見，有些簡直格局偏狹，令人失望。例如，蔡同榮提案罷免支持開放美牛瘦肉精等之藍軍立委，立即獲得五十名黨代表連署；有人提案在黨中央成立「救扁小組」，蘇貞昌則簽署了柯文哲所提的「挺扁保外就醫」連署，把挺扁、救扁行動推上高潮。前者無非旨在深化政治惡鬥，後者則為應付挺扁勢力，其實無助於提升民進黨的社會形象，卻變成了全代會的「主菜」，簡直倒盡胃口。

不難想像，正當馬總統聲望跌至百分之十五，而國民黨氣勢被林益世敗到谷底，民進黨此刻不免有「自我感覺良好」的飄飄然。但民進黨不會不知道，對手身上的膿瘡，不能當成自己的維生養分；如果不修補自己的弱項，拿出讓選民信服的作為，一輪到自己站上舞台就現出原形，扁政府時代「台獨與貪汙」的記憶又會浮現民眾腦海。若連此一瓶頸都無法突破，蘇貞昌又奢談什麼帶領台灣突破僵局？

黨代表買票、賣票的歪風傳開後，民進黨固有若干反省的聲音，但許多人卻不以為意，認為經營黨員本來就有「成本」。最可怕的是，有些挺綠網友竟然幫腔說：「又不是公職選舉，買票是合法的。」請問蘇貞昌：民進黨認同這種「買票合法論」的主張嗎？

尤其弔詭的是，這次全代會也討論了黨內初選要不要恢復「黨員投票」的機制，而黨內的反對意見都集中在「國民黨介入」或「檢調介入」的問題，卻故意將內部「人頭黨員」及「黨內賄選」因素略而不談。這是民進黨沒有自知之明，或者只懂得嫁禍栽贓？試想，如果全代會都買票買成這樣了，若恢復黨員投票，人頭黨員將初選中被賣到什麼價碼，民進黨自己能想像嗎？

對國人而言，「前進吧！台灣」確實是一個令人渴望的憧憬，但觀察民進黨的整體行動，卻讓人看不到領導台灣前進的動力。這場全代會，幾是民進黨歷屆中僅見的未能凸顯政見架構的一次，連蘇貞昌的講辭也極度空泛，不知所云；這是否顯示民進黨思考台灣出路的努力越來越小，領導台灣前進的能量也越來越小。

民進黨正陷於兩岸政策轉型困難，與蘇蔡謝政治角力不可開交之中；這一場未聞政見只聞賄選的全代會，顯示民進黨面臨的考驗正是方興未艾。