DPP Brazen Enough to Put Everything Public and Private into Its Bag
United Daily News Editorial, July 3, 2020
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) forcibly amended and passed the Farmland Water Conservation Law in the Legislative Yuan yesterday. Apart from changing the Irrigation Association from a legal person to a government agency, the chairman of the Irrigation Association will become a post appointed by government. Land and water right originally owned by the Irrigation Association will also become national property. When the DPP liquidated the Kuomintang, they at least did it through the "Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee" to implement such actions. Now, they even saved such procedure to nationalize the original jurisdiction of Irrigation Association and confiscate all of their assets directly. How brutal.
With such a forceful takeover on the functions and assets of the Irrigation Association, the rationale of the DPP seemed reasonable but fake. They say they are "upgrading" the Irrigation Association by making it a governmental institution so as to avoid being controlled by local factions, farmers' convenience to enjoy sufficient water supply will remain intact, and the government can continue to improve water conservancy facilities. However, the DPP's genuine political calculation behind the scene is that with all 17 Irrigation Association heads in Taiwan to become appointed by the government, the farmers' vote in future elections will be easier to control. The 1.5 million Irrigation Association members will be under their control. The big question that the DPP did not answer is: is it in line with the value of democratic progress to eliminate public legal persons and deprive farmers of their autonomy? Does the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen feel that arbitrarily "confiscating" the private assets of the Irrigation Association is constitutional?
The Tsai administration, which seems to have had all the luck these four years, have done countless illegal and preposterous actions with their use of absolute power, but masks them as what she calls "reforms". However, if "reform" is to push down all obstacles violently with a bulldozer, not worrying about what is right or wrong, or what is legally correct and in parallel with human rights, then how is this different from the abuse of power and authoritarianism?
It is worth noting that in addition to the dissent expressed by the members of the Irrigation Association, the KMT and the Taiwan People's Party, DPP members such as former Legislator Lin Cho-shui, former Tainan County Magistrate Su Huan-chih, former Legislator Chen Chao-nan, and several others have openly stated their opposition, stating that this totalitarian act not only tramples civil autonomy but also illegally usurps farmer organizations' common property and assets, and goes against democracy. Currently, the registered land of the Irrigation Association includes about 3,000 hectares, and the unregistered land is about more than 12,000 hectares. The Tsai administration "nationalizing" these lands and irrigation systems that farmers have worked hard for hundreds of years on, without even the most basic "expropriation" process, is absolute open looting.
If even these DPP members, who have been involved in democratic movements for years cannot agree to this kind of brutal behavior, then why don't the DPP members who are in power today feel that their behaviors are inappropriate? Have they abandoned the ideals and beliefs they too once held? The most ironic thing is that this cruel legislation was led single handedly by Minister Chen Chi-chung of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, who was once a member of the "Taiwan Rural Front." Someone who once wanted to promote the agricultural movement, as soon as they become a government official, they immediately turn into a pawn of politicians to destroy farmer autonomy, and plunder civilian property carelessly. What are the implications of the change of Chen Chih-chung into a politician?
The DPP's appetite for power is surely larger than one can imagine. Apart from having the chairman of the Irrigation Association become government appointed post, DPP Legislator Su Chih-fen proposed in May to amend the "Agricultural Law", to require that one-third of the Agriculture Association board members be changed to being appointed by government. In March, DPP Legislator Cheng Yun-peng proposed to amend the "Local Government Act", which called for the abolition of elections for mayors and representatives in all of Taiwan's townships, and have them all be government appointed. It is clear that changing the Irrigation Association chairman to being government appointed is just a small piece of the larger picture. The DPP's bigger goal is to slowly eliminate all local autonomous institutions, by having all government appointed leaders at the top. This way, the power and control of the central government will become enlarged to an unimaginable level. The democratic elections at township levels which preserve the grassroot democratic strength will be castrated completely. What will Taiwan be like then?
The DPP has an endless appetite for power, demolishing as many independent organizations, big or small, as possible. The Central Election Commission, which is supposed to be an independent organization, now has a chairman, Lee Chin-yung directly appointed by the central government. Although it seems that he has withdrew from the participation of DPP affairs, he is in fact, still working for them, as his loyalty lies within the DPP. The National Communications Commission, which is also an independent agency, is plan to be altered and reorganized by the Tsai administration as the "Digital Development Department." It will now become a government sector, whose main mission will be eliminating fake news. Whose interest will be served by them? Not to mention the "Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee" and the "Transitional Justice Commission," which are both rapidly turning into political prosecution-oriented institutions and trying to extend their time of existence. This also illustrates that including the facemask national team, the emergence of all kinds of national team is definitely not accidental.
Whether President Tsai is or isn’t a believer in "big government" is still unclear to us, but under her governance, nationalization, and centralization are greatly inclining. Despite attempting to take in everything they can as their own, the DPP still seems to be unsatisfied.