Are parties for loyalty or for victory? - TW

Monday, May 17, 2004,Page 8

Currently the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) resembles nothing so much as two men in a pantomime donkey suit kicking each other.

On the one hand we have party Chairman Lien Chan (??), vowing mass rallies for Wednesday and Thursday to protest the presidential inauguration, saying that the recount is only the first move in the KMT's plan to change the election result, and telling members who think the election should be properly conceded to quit the party.

On the other hand we have KMT members wondering whether "Chinese" and even "Nationalist" should be dropped from the KMT's name. While we are puzzled as to what that might leave -- the Party sounds Orwellian in the extreme, but maybe even we could vote for the Party Party -- it is a reflection that not everyone in the KMT is an intellectual basket case.

The problem is that changing the name of the KMT doesn't make sense unless you have some idea of what the party stands for. Currently there is no consensus on this.

For too many senior figures like Lien, the KMT stands for their divine right to rule without subjecting themselves to anything as demeaning as the approval of the hoi polloi at the polls. Lien can't get over the fact that elections aren't formalities endorsing his greatness.

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