I personally have supported DPP and Chen ever since very young age. I grew up in an age when KMT was losing power and democracy boomed. In distinction of old "authority" and "dictatorship", DPP first told us that WE, not any politicians, are the true masters of this land. And WE, not any others, can decide our future. And Chen was the star born in that era.
December 1994, Chen became the first Taipei City Mayor elected by the public. He didnt let us down. The Taipei city changed and blossomed as my age grew. We had our first metro line, then second. We had our immense bus network, and even better. You might ask that "During chen's mayorship, you were only like 11~15 years old, how can you feel?" But anyone who has lived in Taipei for those years should have experienced the optimistic feeling filled in the air. People became wealthier and happier. And for the first time, we felt so proud of our own city and country.
With this feeling and expectation we sent Chen into the president house, and then we kept him there for another 4 years. But things changed, always started subtly but somehow accumulated to be inreversible.
Autumn 2006, when I came back from Austria, the first thing welcoming me is the demonstration against Chen and the corruption of his family. I was so sad. Especially the personwho lead the demonstration was absolutely nothing but an untrustable jerk. Should there be another leader, maybe I would accept the fact more easily. But even I could not deny the fact that the society faced serious recession and chaos (which media helped a lot as well), let alone the scandals, corruption, etc etc etc. I'm lucky to stay in, if not the top, the upper middle class of the society, where poverty and hopelessness is out of imagination. Yet i can still feel the overwhelming gloom. People just somehow lost their hope, and it's really, really sad.
But is it all Chen's fault to blame? Just like someone has said "power is the beginning of decay"? I guess there's too many underlying problems regarding the development of Taiwan. As I dont have a clear head and high interest in politics, i cant really point out what we did right and wrong during these years. Is it that we just selected the biggest target to blame? Is it fair? Have DPP waken up from the sweet success years ago? As a long supporter of DPP, I am really upset by them as well. 8 years ago we based ourselves on the recognition that WE ARE TAIWANESE. 8 years after, the same topic growing ever more extreme, but still we are a lonely country in the world, under the death threat from neighboring countries, losing our business to all the surrounding area. TAIWANESE, a beautiful, adorable name but still not able to be seen or heard in the world. Our patroism became the cheapest product to be speculated by the politicians. And still we are getting nowhere.
8 years. For better or worse it's over. I'm still a supporter for DPP. However i paid my best regards to the new president Ma, as time is creating him into another hero. For me, I dont expect any hero more. I only hope to grab back the pride we once had in our mind to be a member of this small yet strong island. And there will be a day when everyone of us hold our head up high again, to breathe the promising feeling in the air.
