Whose fault is that?

With recent scandals in President Chen’s family and tumultuous political issues prior to the mayoral election, many Taiwanese people have been very upset about the pan-political environment on this small island.

Well, certainly it is not the first time we heard and saw ugly sides of politics and politicians. In every democratic country, it is no doubt a must-go-through process to a mature political ideology and system.

I was surprised to read some report stating that Miss Long Ying-Tai gave a speech about the current political status-quo in Taiwan and the responsibility for which government, politicians, and civilians have to be held responsible.

Basically, I agree with what she mostly talked about; but I beg to differ from one specific point-citizens should be also responsible for the candidates they have chosen in Taiwan. I think she forgot how much time we have gotten real democracy in Taiwan. The Chiang family had ruled Taiwan under dictatorship for almost a half decade; and the slow process to acquire democracy requires much more than one aspect.

We often think our legislators, politicians, governmental officials suck; on the other hand, how many of us have asked what our educators have given students in terms of knowledge and cultivated manners of democracy? Does our Ministry of Education care about political science education? While we always compare our political system to other American or European nations, we should truly reflect upon the veritable source of problem, that is education.

It is an analogy like demanding Iraqi people to grow over night and become a democratic country while most people still lack of the concept of democracy. How can we blame people that chose a rotten candidate for a governmental post without considering how much knowledge and cultivation they have received either from school or society?

Not everyone is like Miss Long, having an opportunity to receive higher education in a highly developed and democratic country, let alone living for a long period of time in a foreign nation to witness real democracy.

Therefore, I do not think it is fair to say people in Taiwan should take a lot of responsibility for having chosen a wrong president or other political figures. She must also remember one can change over times, even a great president like Bill Cliton also lied and made mistakes!