Mass rallies, Wild Strawberries

That’s how I view the Wild Strawberries. They are idealists. They believe President Ma Ying-jeou and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan have to apologize for police brutality. They demand that Wang Chuo-chun resign as the nation’s chief of police. One thing these young students do not know, but their behind-the-scene organizers know full well, is police brutality is universal and historical. Do students really believe an apology of a president or his chief executive officer can end police brutality? Anybody who replaces Wang will condone police brutality either for what he believes may contribute to the maintenance of peace and order or just to keep his job.

On the other hand, do the idealistic students truly think those who “proudly” displayed national flags of the Republic of China shortly before and right after the arrival in Taipei of Chen Yunlin, China’s top negotiator on Taiwan affairs, were doing their “patriotic” duty? Police tried to control the flag-wavers simply to please President Ma, who carelessly ordered a “no drop of water” tight security during Chen’s stay in Taiwan (unaware that police are — more often than not — subservient to the high priest of the state) after Zhang Mingqing, a vice chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, had been mobbed at a Confucian temple by an unruly crowd led by a DPP Tainan city councilman.

Ma came to realize he had made a gaffe and then ordered a more “considerate” riot police control. On the wrong cue, brass hats relaxed riot control and rowdy mobs broke through cordons, attacking police and wounding at least 149 of them wounded in bloody clashes in the streets where Molotov cocktails were thrown.

Don’t the Wild Strawberries suspect that the opposition party may have something to do with these incidents to showcase their utmost protest against what it believes a rapprochement between Taiwan and China? If they do, would they want to be their lackeys? I pointed out in this column before I honor their ambition to do something for the good of their country. I believe they are altruistic, but I want again to urge them to grow up. They must come to know what the real world is.

I am glad the Strawberries finally showed a sign of maturity. Toward the end of last week, they accepted an invitation to a Legislative Yuan public hearing on the Assembly Act. Lawmakers are planning to act on amendment bills and the public hearing is supposed to lay the ground for a better law.

There’s no doubt that the public hearing offers the Wild Strawberries the chance to disclose their ideal. So now is the time they should go back to school. One word of advice again to them, which I hope won’t fall on deaf ears: Don’t be dissatisfied with whatever comes out of the public hearing. The lawmakers will choose an act that serves their purposes best anyway. But c’est la vie or “that’s life.” All young university students will eventually learn it after graduation. In the meantime, they had better learn what they have chosen to learn in school in hopes of putting it in better use in their future careers.

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