Ill-planned campaigning a failure

Politicians have once again underestimated the voters' wisdom

Taipei Times
Thursday, December 18, 2003

Politicians have once again underestimated the voters' wisdom. The pan-green camp tried to win support from the so-called "median voters" by means of a TV campaign ad featuring the national anthem. Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, the pan-blue camp's campaign chief, said during a recent interview that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) are not against Taiwan independence, and that they do not rule out independence as an option for Taiwan's future.

These actions and pronouncements violate the long-running political platforms of the respective parties' candidates. They will also cause their traditional supporters to abandon them.

The national anthem basically represents the KMT's soul at its inception as a revolutionary party by Sun Yat-sen before the KMT's exile to Taiwan in 1949. As president of the Republic of China (ROC), Chen Shui-bian has had to sing the anthem on certain occasions. This is understandable. But why use the anthem when Chen is making the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) historical missions -- constitutional reform and liberation from Chinese control -- his primary campaign platform. This not only raises question about the mercurial nature of Chen's style of governing, it makes it look as if he has fallen into an ideological trap created by years of pan-blue propaganda -- median voters who identify with the ROC and have no interest in Taiwan's independence or self-awareness.

Since the DPP came to power, the pan-blue camp has invariably put an "ideology" tag on all DPP policies. They view all government measures based on Taiwanese self-awareness as ideology-obsessed -- a neat trick, given their own Great China ideology. They take their pro-China stance for granted.

Over time, all views and government measures carried out in the name of "Taiwan" are labeled as "ideological." People naturally generate an illusion about "median voters" believing that they are a group of anti-Taiwan, pro-China people uninterested in political issues and concerned only about economic issues. Chen's national anthem ad fell into this trap and he didn't know about it.

On the other hand, the KMT has ganged up with its splinter group, the PFP, in a bid to regain power. Since its split with former president Lee Teng-hui, the KMT has returned to its old "China unification" path. However, in order to seek support from pro-Lee KMT members, the KMT-PFP alliance has not hesitated to bring out Wang, a quintessential Taiwan native, as a pawn. Wang's remarks that the blue camp does not rule out independence are aimed at creating an illusion that Lee's policies are making a comeback in the blue camp.

But illusions cannot deceive people. Baptized by a long period of vicious partisan wrangling, voters have gotten smarter. They will not be easily manipulated by partisan propaganda. Voters can see through Wang's old game -- moving between the blue and green camps to gain maximum political benefits for himself. It is becoming clearer that Wang has no core political beliefs himself -- except for his own personal power. Wang is merely jockeying for position, siding with the blue camp while also toadying to the green camp. He is no Lee. He is merely an opportunist politician.

Date Posted: 12/18/2003