Dirty politics

A political storm has erupted in Taiwan after the island-nation's incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou was accused of abusing his power in office to gather intelligence on the opposition's presidential candidate ahead of elections.

According to the allegations, Justice Ministry investigators were ordered by senior national security official Hu Wei-chen to place 55-year-old Tsai Ing-wen of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) under surveillance. Tsai is bidding to become Taiwan's first female president in elections on January 14.

The claims were first brought by Taiwan's tabloid Next Magazine, which alleged that information collected by intelligence services was passed on to President Ma. Next named 28 officials supposedly involved in the scandal.

Ma has denied receiving any information about his opponent, saying: "I detest this kind of snooping and will by no means allow it to happen," as reported by the Associated Press news agency. The National Security Council has also denied receiving any intelligence information referring to the presidential candidate and further passing any on to President Ma.

DPP officials have latched on to the allegations, however, with the party accusing the National Security Council of engaging in illegal activity.

"They've abused government units for the purpose of political information gathering on a presidential candidate to illegally benefit Ma. Their behaviour has impacted the election," said DPP spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung.

China dominates elections

With the issue of China and territorial disputes in the South China Sea getting especially hot in 2011, Xiao Quanzheng, professor of department of political science at National Taiwan University, believes these elections more than ever will mirror issues involving the Taiwan Strait.

"In my opinion, presidential elections mirror the development of a society at a certain phase such as its social characteristics and structure," he said. "At this moment the most influential factor of the presidential election is the direction on Strait issues, i.e. independence or unification with China."

Xiao said the issue was now being used to gain publicity rather than to contribute to any real political debate.

"The Democratic Progressive Party used to focus on the problem of the gap between the rich and the poor and not issues dealing with the Taiwan Strait. But now it has no clear political agenda. Rather, they place emphasis on criticizing the Chinese Nationalist Party." Xiao added he was concerned the allegations of wrongfully gathering intelligence on Tsai could be a stunt: "I think they put more focus on such disputed issues than their political agenda to arouse public interest."

But the ruling China-friendly Kuomintang is not without blemish either: "Overall the parties in Taiwan do not really put the social and economic problems that Taiwan is facing as the main subjects of debate. This is not a good phenomenon. So I think the political subjects of this presidential election are not clear anymore."

Despite blurred political agendas, Xiao said he expected a good turnout for the Janurary polls.

Lack of interest

But one student activist, Lin Huarong, commented she was refusing to vote this time around.

She said this was because "politics are dirty. It's like a game people play for their personal benefit. The parties in Taiwan have been fighting since I was young. They have no direction when they argue, but keep criticizing each other."

Lin has recently organized a forum where young people gather to discuss politics. Her conclusion is that many of the country's students have become disillusioned with politics. Many won't vote in the coming election, she said, and some of those who do will just be voting for their parents. "Even though a minority will vote, they are persuaded by their parents asking them to vote for their candidates of choice. Usually we young people don't talk about politics or elections. When we talk about it, it's something superficial."

Author: Sarah Berning / mw
Editor: Darren Mara