More dirty politics in store for Taiwan aside from indiscretion

The rendezvous was headline news in almost all local media the next day. The scandal was so stunning because Wu used to have quite a clean image as a staunch and eloquent supporter of President Ma Ying-jeou. With the blessing of a then-popular Ma, he was elected a legislator from the Taipei County with the highest vote among all the candidates.

The stupidity of Wu's behavior lay in his inability to exercise self-control and his failure to exercise sound judgment in regards to his indiscretion that risks ruining his remarkable and hard-working career, particularly under the leadership of Ma, his party chairman, who is proud of and highly regarded for his integrity.

It was reported that Wu believed his relationship with Sun was so well-guarded that no one could have discovered it. But, what he should have but somehow failed to realize is that the Taiwan of today has become so open and democratized that it is difficult for public figures to keep any secrets.

The Next magazine, for example, has employed a 24-hour “hounding squad” that is bent on digging out anything that it believes deserves publication. Moreover, many politicians are reputed to be good at providing unauthorized “explosive revelations” about celebrities almost daily. Premier Wu Den-yih is another recent victim of such disclosures even though all the allegations against him were outdated.

What happened to the two Wus should have taught local politicians significant lessons among them being: 1. Never entertain any illusion that they can hide important “secrets” nowadays in Taiwan. 2. They must think of appropriate and effective responses in advance once the “secret” is divulged in order to minimize the damage or even to turn a potential disadvantage into advantage.

The quick and seemingly sincere apology offered by Legislator Wu was generally given high marks in terms of damage control, although it could have been done better. But, many other public figures, Premier Wu included, in responding to alleged scandals, suffered severe damage to their public image with their vague, illusive or outright dishonest reactions.

The most intriguing thing is that the more absurd the “explosive revelations,” the greater the surprise by which those public figures seem to be caught and the more incomprehensible their responses, that seriously impairs their credibility.

Therefore, it can be expected that between now and the looming year-end city and county elections politicians will launch all kinds of smear campaigns, no matter how groundless and absurd they are, to derive political benefits in case some of them make blunders in response.

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