There is a subtle difference between a revolutionary and a revolutionist. A revolutionary is more likely to be a person participating in a revolution. A philosophical proponent of revolution is often considered a revolutionist. A man can be a revolutionary without being a revolutionist, and vice versa. On the other hand, a revolutionary can turn a revolutionist, like former Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Shih Ming-teh.
Shih was a revolutionary, leading a Human Rights Day demonstration in Kaohsiung in 1979 demanding a change of government. He was arrested, tried and sentenced to life in prison for sedition. He did time on Green Island. During his inauguration as president in 1990, Lee Teng-hui pardoned Shih as well as other political dissidents, including Hsu Hsin-liang and Annette Lu, who were also involved in what has come to be known as the Formosa Magazine incident. Then Shih was elected to the Legislative Yuan and became DPP chairman, albeit he remained a revolutionary. The time came for him to reassert his revolutionary self when the wife of former President Chen Shui-bian was indicted for pocketing part of the public funds under her husband's control for the conducting of “affairs of state” in the summer of 2006. Shih proclaimed a “March of One Million” demanding Chen step down to take responsibility for a spate of corruption scandals implicating his wife, cronies and close associates. Shih appealed for donations of NT$100 million from one million people who chipped in NT$100 each and wore red shirts to march on the Office of President Chen for a sit-in. He joined in the sit-in, vowing “I will not stand up until President Chen stands down.”
Of course, Chen did not quit as demanded. Shih's revolutionary movement petered away and he was almost completely forgotten as a revolutionary politician. Until Sunday.
With the 2012 presidential election only a year away, Shih launched an “I'm Still Hopeful” movement, which he calls a campaign of political thought that will form an alliance online through Facebook to urge all presidential hopefuls to address the issues of national identity, the system of government, relations between Taiwan and China and Taiwan's security. Well, he seems to have turned into a revolutionist. To start with in his new campaign, Shih plans to call a Taiwan People's Conference in May to find out what future the Taiwanese people hope for as a state. When asked whether he would run for president, he went on the record stating “I don't rule out that possibility.”
That means Shih has metamorphosed into a politician aspiring for the highest elective office in the country, if everything goes according to schedule. By holding the May conference, he hopes to rally behind him leaders from business, art and literature, academic and military circles who loathe the “rotten apples” the two major political parties will offer as their standard bearers in 2012. He is confident that he still is charismatic enough to organize a campaign that matches the March of One Million.
As a matter of fact, he looks more like a Don Quixote de la Taiwan. Like the Spanish hero of Cervantes' classic romance of chivalry, Shih is passe, though he never accepts that fact. Carried away by his half-successful “red shirt movement,” he has convinced himself that he has been called upon to rise to the occasion to lead the country. He wants to be a hero, again.
A hero is a man of the hour. He has to do the right thing at the right place and above all, at the right time. Ma Ying-jeou was a hero in 2008. But there never is a right time for a passe political movements. Like it or not, Taiwan is saddled with two-party politics. For the foreseeable future, a strong third force will not emerge. Just like in the United States or the United Kingdom. Sway voters may believe the presidential candidates the DPP and the ruling Kuomintang will field next March are “bad apples.” But they will choose the one that they believe isn't rotten to the core.
Unlike Don Quixote, Shih won't suffer distressful consequences, however. The Spanish gentleman was overthrown by a friend, who required him to abstain for a year from chivalrous exploits. He resolved to spend this period as a shepherd, living a pastoral life, but, falling sick on his return to his village, he died after a few days. Is there a good friend who will ask Shih to live a pastoral life?
〈本文僅供參考，不代表本會立場〉
（本文刊載於100.3.9 The China Post 4版 ）
胡思聰
(
2007年6月12日 09:50
)
林祖嘉
(
2018年4月17日 16:11
)
王順民
(
12月6日 16:45
)
張瑞雄
