Rejecting the Tools of Democracy

After undertaking months' campaign to collect 1 million signatures endorsing its proposed referendum, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had a sudden change of heart two weeks prior to election day and asked voters to boycott tomorrow's referendums -- including its own.

Making the decision during the KMT Central Standing Committee, the party justified its position by arguing that the "referendums have been twisted and kidnapped by the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] to be used as a tool to provoke conflict."

KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) added that the party had not ruled out boycotting the two UN-membership referendums -- one by the DPP to join the UN using the name "Taiwan" and the other by the KMT to "return" to the UN using the nation's official title, "Republic of China" -- that are scheduled to be held on March 22 in tandem with the presidential election.

It is dumbfounding how easy it is for the KMT, in today's democratic Taiwan, to disregard the voices of millions in such a casual way: The opinions of a few Central Standing Committee members have effortlessly overruled the collective opinion of more than 1 million petitioners.

Taiwan has come a long way from the days of authoritarian rule. No direct presidential election was allowed and freedom of speech and the press was a pipe dream. Today, people can freely exercise their rights without fear that they could be dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night and disappear.

Some trumpet participation in referendums as the "people's right." But a closer look shows it would be more precise to say that it is the "people's privilege," because not every country practices direct democracy. With this is mind, anyone who is a proud Taiwanese should not easily abandon that special privilege by forsaking their referendum ballots.

It is not that surprising to hear calls from the KMT to boycott the referendums. After all, it was the pan-blue camp's actions that resulted in the "bird cage" version of the Referendum Law (公民投票法), which resorts to technicalities to restrict the use of referendums, depriving Taiwanese of greater democratic power.

But anyone who respects the country's democratic pioneers and feels a sense of responsibility in defending the country's hard-won democracy should not allow themselves to be intoxicated by the KMT's anti-democratic rhetoric.

Two referendums will be held tomorrow -- one initiated by the DPP on recovering assets stolen by the KMT, and the other proposed by the KMT to empower the legislature to investigate misconduct of senior government officials and their families.

Whether individuals agree or disagree with the questions addressed in the two referendums, they should cast their referendum ballots tomorrow and make their voices heard.

Taking part in a referendum is a privilege but also an obligation from which each citizen of a democracy should draw pride.

The boycott proposal is not only an insult to voters, but also harmful to the nation's effort to consolidate democracy.

Taipei Times Editorial, January 11, 2008.