Taiwan Politics, Observation Three: Blue Corruption is OK, but Suspected Green is Not.
Saturday September 16, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.
In most places in the world, corruption is corruption, but in Taiwan it is different. There is OK corruption and not OK corruption. It all depends on what color party you support, at least according to Shih Ming-deh's current protest and Taiwan's pan-blue dominated media. In Taiwan, blue corruption is OK, but suspected green corruption means the President should step down. Logical? Not quite, but logic may be a bit too much to expect from the pan-blue politicians, party members and the red ants following Shih.
Let's look at examples. Start with none other than Ma Ying-jeou, Mr. Clean and Chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT). Ma has finally admitted that the KMT illegitimately acquired all the state assets when it took custodianship of Taiwan from the Japanese after World War II. Ma has not apologized for this, but while admitting it might give a negative impression he explained, It happened during a special period so there's no point in being too critical about it.
A special period, ah yes, that means the period when the KMT had a one party state and the KMT took what it wanted. If anyone resisted, protested, or objected they were either killed or imprisoned on Green Island. No there is no point in being too critical about that.
The profits from using these state assets went into KMT hands and made many party rulers current day tycoons. Some of the assets have been sold however. Was that money returned to the people? No, you see it had to be used to pay KMT pensions and other personnel fees so that is OK.
As for KMT candidates, Ma has repeatedly supported those convicted of crimes of vote buying and other shall we say misdemeanors. Ma wants to run for President to succeed Chen Shui-bian, but all the above is blue corruption so it is OK.
Then there is James Soong; he is or is not running for Taipei Mayor; he rode behind Shih in the protest parade on Friday night and speaks often on why he should be elected and why Chen should step down. As one of the tycoons who benefited from the KMT assets and past KMT offices, Soong is already convicted of tax evasion. He has a minimum of five houses in the United States and numerous stuffed bank accounts but that is OK because that is blue corruption. That makes him eligible to run for office in the future.
Shih Ming-deh is not running for office now, and though he has not had a job for ages, Shih has been on the pan-blue dole for some time. He most recently flew to Thailand to meet Chen Yu-hao, a Taiwan fugitive who ran off with Tuntex company funds, left huge debts behind and now hides out in and supports Communist China. All this makes Shih qualified to lead the anti-Chen campaign because this is blue corruption and it is OK.
Then there is Hau Lung-bin, the KMT candidate for Mayor of Taipei. He also spoke at the protest rally on why Chen should step down because his son-in-law is under indictment for insider trading. The fact that Hau's father, Hau Pei-tsun, is also under indictment for the Lafayette frigate scandal involving hundreds of millions of US dollars and murder is different. That you see is blue corruption and does not count.
This brings us back to President Chen Shui-bian. Chen is not accused of any crimes himself, but as was said, his son-in-law is under indictment for insider trading. Chen's wife has also been questioned about alleged Sogo and Hyatt Regency coupons and vouchers. This is potential green related corruption so the president must step down. Logical? I believe we left logic behind at the beginning of this article.