Time for some political jujitsu

Six and a half years after losing Taiwan's presidency, the pan-blues are still wailing and gnashing their teeth about the "bane" of democracy which threatens their very existence. These days, the duties of hypocritically opposing "corruption" are being publicly handled by Taiwan's Charles Bronson lookalike and debt-ridden has-been, the overly-hyphenated buffoon, Shih Ming-teh

He's a partisan, and he'll cry if he wants to
An article on page 3 of today's Taipei Times says that the supposedly "non-partisan" Shih is preparing to launch a recall against all pan-green legislators who don't support his and the pan-blues' shrill drive to depose President Chen Shui-bian. His real goal, however, is to get the pan-greens to do his bidding. Here's the bait:

If pan-green legislators decide to support the second presidential recall motion and hand the future of the president over to the people to decide through a national referendum, the campaign will end its month-long protest, organizers said.

Doesn't that sound tasty -- an end to all the nonsense?

Not so fast! Remember the threat behind that bait.

Also remember this. Less than a month ago, I redundantly pointed out the partisan nature of Shih's rabble-rousing, and the subsequent behavior of his camp has consistently proven this to be correct. Here's the comment from Shih's spokesman (formerly-painted-as-neutral) which I criticized last month:

"We don't want any partisan support. We try to keep this as pure as possible, as a movement of the people," said Emile Sheng, professor of politics at Soochow University, who has joined the protest camp as a media spokesman.

Would you take bait from this man or the group he supports? I certainly hope not!

This latest "carrot-which-is-actually-a-stick" comes across exactly like the behavior of a spoiled child: "I'll stop crying as soon as you buy me the expensive gift which you can't afford and I shouldn't have anyway, and if you don't, I'll hold my breath until you can see that my face is already blue." It's just another in the series of tricks from the anti-Chen camp, and you know that if you give them what they want, they'll only ask for more.

Partial recall
These faux "opposers of corruption" fail to remember, though I do quite clearly, that less than 4 months ago, KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (erstwhile supporter of corrupt officials like Hsu Tsai-li and Wu Chun-li), referring to a soon-to-fail recall motion against President Chen, had these authoritarian-sounding words to say:

"It's time to load the gun, but not yet time to pull the trigger, because you only get one shot at recalling a president."

Did you read that? "[O]ne shot." But how soon they forget.

Henry Blackhand has a much longer memory
A letter to the editor, also in today's Taipei Times, gives readers a short lesson in history and law which speaks volumes:

[I]t must be hard for the KMT and its allies to adjust to a legal system where the burden of proof lies with the accuser, when for 40 years during the White Terror period they enjoyed the power of kangaroo courts, in which a mere accusation was often enough to get someone a long stretch in prison or even a death sentence.

A "kangaroo court" is exactly what this all is, and it's just another of the many ways that this non-democratic mess is like China's Cultural Revolution.

Turn the tactics of your opponents back on them
So what can the people of Taiwan do about this madness? Well, turnabout is fair play, so I simply suggest that a recall be initiated against all the pan-blue legislators -- sincerely, and not as a "bluff" -- since the KMT chairman himself said they only had "one shot" at recalling the president. They've played their hand. Call their bluff, and let them fall on their faces. What are they gonna do about it -- cry to their mommyland?

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Things to remember: Taiwan, 台灣, Taipei Times, 台北時報, Chen Shui-bian, 陳水扁, A-bian, 阿扁, Democratic Progressive Party, 民主進步黨, DPP, 民進黨, Taiwan Solidarity Union, 台灣團結聯盟, TSU, 台聯黨, pan-greens, democracy, 民主, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, pan-blues, 泛藍, China, 中國, PRC, 中華人民公和國, Cultural Revolution, 文化大革命, 文革

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!