The KMT's Ma Ying-jeou: Plenty of Style but is There Substance?
Sunday August 21, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.
On August 19th, it became official. For the first time in its over one hundred-year history, the Kuomintang (KMT) had a chairman freely elected by the party. For anyone with a sense of history it was a milestone full of irony, potential promise, and severe challenges and questions.
The irony was clear. This party which had professed (since its inception) to live by Sun Yat-sen’s principles of government of the people, by the people, and for the people had finally and actually put them into practice.
The potential promise followed this milestone. Was it possible that the party had finally jettisoned the stodgy leadership that was mired in images of a past glory that never was? Would it now be open to younger voices more attuned to the reality and need for solidifying localization? Was the party determined to shake off its dependence on hierarchical privilege and cronyism?
Severe questions and challenges came on the heels of this potential promise. The party had chosen a chairman with a glamorized and well-crafted Madison Avenue image, but was this simply window dressing? Did the new chairman have the substance to meet the challenges ahead?
Ma Ying-jeou, the current mayor of Taipei, and duly elected chairperson of the KMT took the party’s reins on August 19th with the appropriate fanfare and flag-waving. With his selection as chairperson came the likelihood of being the party’s next presidential candidate. As the KMT’s bright star and hope for the future, Ma has pledged to restore the party’s image and regain the nation’s presidency in 2008. This is a perfunctory and even required speech of any duly elected chairperson. However, in Ma’s case, it raised the real question of how deeply is he committed to reform of a party so long entrenched in moneyed privilege and power, and to what extent will Ma put Taiwan first? To do so, would require a man of clear skill and definite substance.
Does Ma have that substance? Ma has always been one to play to the gallery and court an image. He has always tried hard to keep his feet in the proverbial two boats. Anyone that has watched him over the years and has a memory has seen his inconsistencies. His past as a campus spy for the KMT in the United States has never been fully examined. As he reported on democratic activities of his fellow Taiwanese students was he simply trying to be a dutiful and loyal son of the party? How many lives and careers of fellow students were brought down by his reports?
People can change. However, in Taiwan, before he was mayor, Ma rarely missed a chance to be seen standing up for the little man; old soldiers being moved, prostitutes losing jobs, the concerned Ma was always there with media alerted and in tow. Ma claimed he was simply a concerned citizen and not running for mayor but then of course he suddenly changed his mind. Once elected, the needs of the above little people seemed to fall or be pushed through the cracks.
The daunting task at hand for the new chairperson of the KMT will demand a man of substance, a man capable of much more than just showing up in jogging shorts, smiling and looking concerned.
Nevertheless, to Ma’s credit, he did not back down when Lien Chan’s cohorts tried to float the idea that maybe Lien should run again for chairman. Wang Jin-pyng, like a dutiful liege of the hierarchy said he would step down if Lien chose to run. Ma stated that Lien was certainly welcome to run but he would remain in the race. Lien flinched. My call is that Lien—the man who had never won an election in his life and had been used to having things handed to him—wouldn’t risk a finale going out as a loser. Ma would have beaten him soundly and Lien knew it. Whether Ma was pushed into standing up to Lien by the new blood in the party or whether it was his own decision remains to be seen.
Despite this positive sign, the issues and challenges facing the new chairperson remain formidable. First and foremost is the long avoided issue of the KMT’s ill-gotten assets. Much of the nation’s property and wealth was seized by the KMT in 1945; it has been kept, and used for profit. The nation’s and therefore the people’s wealth basically remains in KMT hands. These assets have been used for financing campaigns, buying support, and of course lining the pockets of the privileged KMT inner circle. This is an issue that will be very hard to sidestep for a reform pledged chairperson.
The control of such a warchest has been the reason the party has been able to withstand the splintering of the New Party and People’s First Party. When the latter parties ran out of money they had to return to the fold. To sacrifice such an advantage, ill gotten or not, will take a man of extreme principle and not image. Related to this is the whole issue of black gold. Does Ma have enough of a backing among the young Turks to stand up to the old school?
Then there is the legislation and in particular the arms budget blocked in the Legislative Yuan by the Pan-Blue alliance. The Blues under Lien had stonewalled these matters. Did they do it simply to discredit the country’s president? Are they bargaining for an old-style kickback? Do they purposely want to weaken Taiwan while the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to beef up its attack capability? As the new KMT chairperson will Ma take a clear position and do what is best for Taiwan? Will he see that there is more to being the opposition party than just being stubborn?
A final complication is the fact that the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had sent a congratulatory message to Ma on his victory, while Chinese President Hu Jintao sent a signed note congratulating Lien on his honorary chairman role of the KMT. This is extremely unusual for past age-old enemies who had each claimed contradicting sovereignty for their nations, but it is not that surprising for a superior expecting repentant, returning vassals.
Which boat will Ma finally decide to put his feet in? Where will he take his stand? Ma’s modus operandi and/or image from the past have been to avoid conflict and try to please everyone. This has raised the obvious question; “Does he have a central thought?”
The jury is out. Most recently, Ma the campaigner had pledged to run a clean campaign for chairperson, later he apologized profusely to the angry and mud-splattered Wang Jin-pyng. As mayor in cleaning up the city, he required his staff to cut out boozing at lunches. When he returned to the office in a tipsy state, he dutifully apologized and said it was a momentary slip due to the KMT company he was with. These are not hopeful signs. They make us wonder if the next two years will be laden with dutiful image-saving apologies.
The 2008 elections are a long ways off, the stiff challenge ahead requires much more than jogging shorts and smiles. Ma now has the reins, but does he have the substance?