Democracy in Progress? ' Throwing Face' !

Yesterday was the first day of Parliament this year.
First thing in the morning, the opposition parties hijacking the parliament chamber.
They held banners and placards demanding the resignation of the Cabinet, and threatening to thwart whatever measures the government is planning to pass. Not the first time, but the scenes are getting tiresome.

In Mandarin when something or somone is embarrasing, we say how 丟臉
, or literally 'throwing face' (which is similar to the English 'losing face'). But throwing face was not the only thing Taiwan's parliamentarians were throwing yesterday...they throw cups, microphones, pieecs of shreded paper at one another, engaged in scuffles and "you-push-me, I-push-your"s, threw abuses and dirty words at one another, used placards and banners to hit one another... thank goodness they didn't throw furnitures and fists around, like they did in recent memory...

The issues of contention? a defence budget which has lingered on since 2001, when the US promised to sell Taiwan an artillery of weapons to defend against China's growing missile and war threats... budget to cure constant flooding caused by rain and destruction brought by typhoons... ailing state enterprises and whether to privatise them... the prolonged completion of the Taiwan High Speed Rail, which was supposed to be due by November this year... and, the general bitter feeling of the opposition to have lost elections twice in a row.

The opposition are mostly comprised of the so-called 'Pan-blue' parties, lead by the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT). Ever since the Chinese Nationalist regime lost power after a period of more than half a century of authoritarinism, they have been opposing almost every measure of the 'Pan-green' parties, most significant of which is the Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) in power at the moment. On TV, in the printed media, daily abuses and scandals of one another are revealed and thrown at one another. Politics here is thus a show, a reality soap of good actors, actrices, who use eloquent and sometimes vulgar language to sting at their opponents or hug their allies...a dramatic stage of infighting, of tears, envy, blackmail, of victories and sweats, of life and of squanders. And the hordes of reporters, journalists, paparazzis, 'analysts' add to the special effects, to give the audience the dazzle, the glitz, the shock and despair of their lifetimes. A colourful zoo, of elected representatives, channeled to our very homes and work places, to our bedrooms, eyes and ears.

Shame, that Taiwan's virgin democracy is jeopardised by sour-grapes, jealous mobs and politicians hungry for power. While most people are working hard to improve their lives, to further the development of this country, what are the MPs doing?