A Significant page in Taiwan's Democracy

Taiwan just held its significant presidential election yesterday (March 22, 2008) and had its second party transition in history. It ended up with peace rather than violence or any clashes. Maybe it has much to do with the landslide victory claimed by the opposition party(KMT, Kuomintang or Nationlist Party.) However, the ruling party (Democratic Progressive Party, DPP) also took the credit for it because the candidate still urged his supporters to stay calm, accept the defeat, and not to take to the streets for social stability even if the ruling party lost the election. This is very invaluable and what sportsmanship is all about. Once again, this election proves that Taiwan is a beacon of hope for the Chinese community. Meanwhile, it also paves the way for even mature deomocracy in Taiwan's polotical development. I'm very proud of being a Taiwanese.

Why is this election so crucial? From my perspective, the reasons are as follows:

• It symbolizes mature deomocrcy.
  In 2000, Taiwanese people were proud to have its first time ever party transition after the oppostion party at that time (DPP) defeated the autocratic long-time ruler, KMT. The power turnover indicated that any corrupt parties would be despised and voted off. However, it seems that the DPP didn't learn the lesson and forgot who the real boss was. During its 8 years in power, more curruption scandals were revealed and those higher-ups abused their power to create more ethnic confrotation, dividing the country. I always believe a country can achieve democratic maturity on the conditions that it has experieced at least 2-time part transitions. Only by doing so can those politicians, especially those who are defeated in elections, realize where their power is from and thus keep in mind the benefits and interests of the people before abusing their power. To be exact, when they are in office, their power is borrowed from the people. They don't enjoy the power without people's empowerment. Therefore, this result of the election has brought Taiwan into another phase in terms of its democratic development.
  
• It stands for the end of ethnic confrontation.
  It's undeniable that during the martial law peiod, the KMT did a lot of terrible things and oppressed people after they were forced to evaculate to Taiwan in 1949 after the civil war in China. I believe the graphic and terrible scenes are still vivid in the minds of the victims and their families. For them, the 228 Incident and all the-like inhuman acts are the most horrific things they have ever seen and experienced in their whole lives. They deserved compensation and more care by the government. However, as we know, time heals all wounds. Rubbing it in all the time wouldn't help at all. But it seems that a lot of politicians try to take advange of hatred and gain their own political interests. They seem to forget what those people need is to heal their wounds, leave all the pain behind and move on. Those slick politicians always claim "We as Taiwanese people should not forget what happened in history. We should learn a lesson from it." I agree with them to some extent although as the old says goes, "history repeats itself and people never learn from history." Yes, we shouldn't forget about history and we shouldn't make the same mistakes. However, I also believe that we shouldn't take advantage of the perished and keep reminding the victims of those nightmares all the time, which might create more tension between ethnic groups on this island and pose a threat on the national security. After the election, I believe, more and more politicians will be aware that the manipulation of ethnic issues is not working anymore because most people are sick and tired of being labelled as "islanders(本省人)", "mainlanders(外省人)", etc. Namely, more and more people are fed up with personal attacks and ethnic disputes simply caused by different identities or roots. After all, no matter you are islanders , mainlanders, aboriginals or immigrants, we are all Taiwanese. Taiwan is our home. All of us will live (or stay) here and work harder to make Taiwan (or R.O.C.) a stronger and greater nation.
  
• Policies are more important than rhetoric.
  "Where is the beef?" is a well-known question when it comes to elections. In the past, politicians tended to create "rhetorical slogans" for their campaigns. That's normal and acceptable. What's even worse is that some candidates couldn't present any concrete or feasible politices and all they did is to attack other candidates' politices. Of course, it's OK to question their competitors' policies because "a wrong policy is worse than corruption." However, "presenting plateforms" are one of the the basic requirments that a responsible candidate has to meet. Without them, their words are just hot air, or an empty talk. How can the constituency make up their mind and choose one candidate over others? This time, besides "war of words", both presidential candidates proposed more concrete solutions to Taiwan's economic stimulation, education, foreign policies, cross-strait relations, agriculture, and all that. It's a postive sign. It's also a good demonstration how a mature democratic system should function. To some extent, this can set a good example for future elections.

Taiwan is one of the Asian countires enjoying full democracy. All in all, this is a successful election. We should give two camps two thumbs up for it. It not only demostrates the maturity of deomocracy in Taiwan, but also shows the world once again that Taiwanese people are great people. We should be proud of this. However, what lies ahead of us is a even bigger challange and a more complex issue - cross-strait relations. It's no picnic to deal with things related to this emerging regional economic super power, as well as our long-time political foe. We still have a long way to go. No matter what party an individual favors, each of us should stick together as a great nation and throw our weights behind the president-elect so that he can have more bargaining power when he negotiates with China. Enough of politics. At the moment, why don't we pause for a while, and paint the town red for the great accomplishment? After all, "the second transfer or power" is a crucial turning point and brandnew page in history for sure.