| Before going to the Netherlands to give a lecture, I collected some data on Dutch society and politics. A book titled Learning from the Netherlands (借鏡荷蘭), cowritten by former Philips Taiwan CEO Lo Yi-chiang (羅益強) and former Netherlands Trade and Investment Office representative Siebe Schuur, said the Dutch political system was multi-party, that almost no party has been able to rule the country alone and that therefore political stability was maintained largely by negotiations. It was noted that the country had been able to maintain political stability and keep its fifth spot in the competitiveness ranking despite being led by a coalition government for the past dozen years.
In his preface to the book, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) wrote: "None of the political parties in the Netherlands can win majority support and rule the country alone ... Since they value compromise, coexistence and tolerance, the Dutch are able to resolve any difficulty and overcome all obstacles."
Chen admires the Netherlands' success, and he knows that the key lies in compromise, coexistence and tolerance. However, in his preface, he writes that, "The key lies in whether we have faith to embrace a challenge, sincerity to seek unity and seriousness to define our position." He concludes that, "The Netherlands is a mirror to Taiwan. Although A-bian is determined, I need you to roll up your sleeves to help. We want the world to know that Taiwan is small, but its ambition is big."
Chen seems to recognize the significance of compromise, coexistence and tolerance, but he only talks about ambition later, not compromise, coexistence or tolerance. He also does not really use the Netherlands as a mirror when trying to solve Taiwan's problems.
If the party of a directly elected president does not enjoy a legislative majority, and the leader cannot compromise and coexist with other parties, the political situation will be unstable, and both economic and social development may suffer.
Should we expect the next president to be able to break through the deadlock of minority rule and promote compromise, reconciliation and coexistence?
Campaigning for next year's presidential election has begun, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates have proposed a number of policies, and issued many "campaign checks" that may or may not be fulfilled. For example, KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) recently proposed establishing a sports center in every township in the country. Whether such campaign promises have anything to do with the president's authority is questionable.
The most fundamental task for the next president is to implement effective democratic politics, and in particular to bring an end to minority rule and resolve the confrontation between the pan-blue and pan-green camps.
The presidential candidates should propose an effective solution to these issues. Perhaps they are afraid to tackle these issues, but they must have a thorough understanding of the matter, and come up with solutions.
Chiu Hei-yuan is a research fellow in the Institute of Sociology at Academia Sinica.
Translated by Eddy Chang | 