rence on June 23 that he had picked Vincent C. Siew, a former premier and the KMT vice presidential nominee in 2000, as his running mate for the 2008 elections. Almost all KMT leaders, including the honorary party chairman Lien Chan, the president of the Legislative Yuan Wang Jin-pyng, and a much-talked-about possible running mate of Ma, have expressed strong support for the Ma-Siew ticket. Fairly speaking, Siew should be an ideal teammate for Ma for several reasons: First, he is a native Taiwanese from the south where Ma, considered a "Mainlander," is weakest politically. Second, he has a long and impressive background as an expert in financial and economic affairs, who has played an active role in creating the world-famous "Taiwan miracle." Third, he has earned high respect from both "pan-blue" and "pan-green" camps as a decent, capable and hard-working public servant who is devoted to the promotion of the well-being of the nation and the people.
But, after saying so much that is positive about Siew, one must point out the negative aspects of Ma's decision in order to present the complete picture.
First of all, Siew is a long-time KMT loyalist, who resigned some time ago as vice chairman of the party. In this sense, his selection as a candidate fell far short of the political impact on Taiwan's society when Dr. Chang Chao-hsiung, a noted physician, generally regarded as a "pro-green" figure, decided to team up with James Soong, a leader of the "pan-blue" alliance, in the 2000 presidential elections. Secondly, the Lien-Siew ticket lost -- came in third place to be exact -- in 2000. Thus, Siew is not only an "old horse" in politics, but also may be branded a "loser." Thus, based on the experience of most modern democracies, he is definitely a political minus for Ma. Finally, Siew has been away from home for a long time, so his popularity in the south may not be as high as expected.
The Ma-Siew ticket should be a "safe bet" in a normal political situation. But the fact is that present-day Taiwan is far from being a normal democracy. Instead it is a country where the majority has been kidnapped by a minority; the judiciary is a willing tool of politics; most of the political leaders are selfish and power-hungry politicians; emotions of local voters, inflicted with a oppression complex plus a provincialism complex, can easily be agitated at the expense of rationality. Further, the ruling party indulges in and is adept at playing tricks to win elections, and the opposition is no match for the ruling party in making last-ditch efforts to sway voters to its side at polling time.
It is clear that several recent important elections in Taiwan have been decided largely by clever maneuvers of the ruling DPP, since it can boast of no administrative achievements. Thus, it is hoped that Siew will become an efficient and astute campaigner, who can help Ma outwit the DPP in capturing the vote.
