Taiwan Church News

3335 Edition

Jan 25 - 31, 2016

Church Ministry

The Challenges Of Social Movement After Taiwan's Third Party Alternation

Reported by Chiu Kuo-rong

After Democratic Progressive Party(DPP) secures her absolute control of the presidential office, central governmentand the congress after the landslide victory of the election on 16 January 2016, it seems that the progress of critical social issues and the way how they might be reformed becomes more and more obvious on how strong the monitoring forces amalgamated from different social movements could exert?

In th evening on January 25, some leaders of different social movement in the the fields of the labor, the aboriginal peoples andthe students are invited to speak in a seminar, entitled "After Party Alternation, What's Next?", in order to figure out how social movements should deal with a brand new political scenario? Instead of tolerating the former DPP administration of President Chen Shuei-bian, due to his lack of congress majority in his two terms of presidency from 2000 to 2008, a consensus is emerging that a more powerful monitoring from existent social movements is necessary.

Mr Mao Jeng-fei, representative of National Laid-Off Workers' Alliance, delivers his pessimistic views about aprospective reform on labor issues within this new government . As a matter of fact, Mao says, DPP is a right-winged capitalist party, which essence is not too much different from KMT, reminiscently proved in the privatization of Taiwan's national enterprises during the regime of President Chen Shuei-bian. "Actually, we are now prepared to fight a next war!", says Mao.

Ms Hon-Jeng Ting-huei, chairwoman of Lima Aboriginal Youth Group, stresses that social movement is a criticalelement to stabilize Taiwan society. Therefore, no matter which party takes the power, it's absolutely necessary for the groups of social movement doing their jobs of the "check and balance" to monitor the powers.

Though some bold assignments of some social movements' leaders into the new congress or DPP's centraldepartments are absolutely positive, Hon-Jeng still doubts any break-through on the aboriginal policy could be made in this new government as the minority's freedom and justice will be too easily sacrificed in the fierce bargain within the congress. "We are the aboriginal. What we want most is the freedom in our true color. But, at present time, the freedom in your laws is terribly different from ours!", says Hon-Jeng.

Translated by Peter Wolfe