Turing Stigma into Medal：Legislative Violence as Interpretation of "Taiwan Values"
United Daily News Editorial, June 9, 2022
The delegation of the Slovakian Parliament and Bratislava Province visited the Legislative Yuan on June 9. During their visit of the Legislative Yuan chamber, members of the Slovakian Parliament and the governor of Bratislava Province imitated the dogfights of the legislators between the ruling and opposition parties on the spot, causing a burst of laughter. Parliamentary violence has always been considered the shame of democracy, but after the ruling Democratic Progress Party (DPP) rewrote the definition of democracy and beautified violence, the shame of democracy became a medal and even became an entertaining impromptu for the guests and hosts of the Taiwan-Slovakia legislators.
Before his visit, a young member of parliament in the delegation wrote an article “Let’s establish links with democratic countries,” in which he indicated that Taiwan is an advanced democracy and has a lot of things worth-learning for Slovakia. Unexpectedly, the most important democratic curriculum and teaching materials that our Legislative Yuan could provide to this study trip of the Slovakian Delegation turned out to be "dogfights between the government and the opposition!"
In fact, while in the Legislative Yuan chamber, there were members of the DPP legislators enthusiastically tour-guiding the delegation to the battlefield and demonstrating them how legislators of different parties do the offensive and defensive battles, and even encourage the delegation members to mimic the dogfights. The Slovakian visiting delegation, whether taking a posture of wrestling, or raising a placard to disagree, did not need a play script at all. They could improvise and perform right on the spot. This episode can explain that how the televised pictures of dogfights in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan have spread the world, and deeply rooted in people's hearts, and even become an important interpretation of “Taiwan values”.
Ever since the DPP has grafted the violence from the streets into the Legislature, revised the definition of democracy textbooks, and vigorously praised the “Violent Occupation of the Legislature”, a month-long occupation of parliament from March 18 to April 10, 2014, by students, it has continuously reinterpreted the connotation of parliamentary violence. Nowadays, whether it is fighting between the government and the opposition, strangling the neck and kicking the legs, or bulldoze the public opinion with a legislative majority, all these become a daily practice in politics. In front of the cameras, parliamentary violence also has evolved its “aesthetic effect” on stage. The impromptu cosplay of the Slovakian delegation at the Legislature was to ridicule Taiwan's parliamentary violence in a form of comedy.
It is noticed that parliamentary violence has made Taiwan world-famous and has been euphemized by ruling DPP as a decoration of the facade of Taiwan's democracy. Ironically, great external propaganda by the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen in the name of “democratic values” was just a disguise of propaganda for domestic purpose. Of course, what will be shameful is not the promotion of the spirit of “parliamentary violence” but the collective dementia of the movement of “violent Xiaoying”, once the icon of the DPP leader now president, who led the people to fight on the streets for a glorious pursuit of justice years ago while in opposition.