The Cross Strait Times

I’m assuming that you’ve been reading your China Post or Taipei Times to keep tabs on the story, so there’s no need for me to give you more than the briefest overview. On November 3, 2006, First Lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) was indicted for forgery and corruption over the State Affairs Fund, and just last week the accusations of corruption and “misuse” of the Special Allowance Fund have swirled around KMT chairman and Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), one of President Chen’s most outspoken critics.

The use of half of the Special Allowance Fund does not need to be documented, and is, technically (and legally) to be used at the politician’s discretion, so it’s likely that every Taiwanese politician has pocketed at least some of it. If you want call Ma a hypocrite and equate the two, go ahead. In the meantime, we await the judicial findings.

And if Ma is guilty of “misuse,” well, then there are two ways to look at this:

1. The amount of money Ma is alleged to have pocketed is smaller than the amount that the First Family is alleged to have pocketed: taking a hotel pen, downloading a movie, and robbing a jewelry store are all stealing, but equating them is ridiculous.
2. Corruption is corruption, therefore Ma is demoted from his previous sainthood status and made no different from Chen or any other politician, Green or Blue.

Both are valid viewpoints, and again, we’ll have to await the judicial findings before we can make our judgments. Speaking only for myself, I have never been in favor of recalling/deposing/whatever President Chen over his alleged corruption, only over his unpopularity.

My personal feeling is that the First Lady will be acquitted of the charges against her. If she is found guilty of corruption and forgery, the judiciary may be pressured to find Ma guilty as well. If that happens, then all 6,500 ROC lawmakers will be hauled to the chopping block, as all officials are entitled a slush fund to be used at their own discretion. Heads will roll. No 2008 presidential hopeful from any party will come out unscathed. They will all become Chen Shui-bian.

I would prefer the judiciary to acquit Wu Shu-chen and let the whole Accountgate fiasco die down. Some have said that everyone implicated should step down, but what does resigning actually do? I daresay that the problem isn’t with the politicians, it’s with the system.

Of course, we (meaning Pan-Blue supporters like myself) should not support Ma Ying-jeou unconditionally, especially if he is found guilty of wrongdoing. As a matter of fact, no one should support any leader/politican, or political party unconditionally. But given the current stock of Taiwanese politicians, it is my personal opinion that Ma is the best politician suited for the role of leading Taiwan in 2008. A number of lawmakers have even said that, should Ma be found guilty of corruption and expelled from the KMT, they still would support Ma as an independent candidate for ROC President. Given Ma’s popularity, even if he is found guilty, I think he would still be the Pan-Blue front runner for the presidency.

Of course, political memories are short in Taiwan, and Ma still has a while to rehabilitate his image. After all, Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who is now running for Taipei mayor, was indicted as a defendant in the Kaohsiung MRT scandal just last year, and everyone seems to have already forgotten about it.