Dancing On Suicide Victims' Graves

David Ting at Taiwan's China Post couldn't resist a parting shot at outgoing President Chen Shui-bian in his Tuesday column, Goodbye and good riddance to former president Chen:

[Chen's] misplaced priority in governance was not without a price to pay.  Besides diplomatic isolation, Taiwan's suicide rate soared due to the slumping economy and rising unemployment.  "Suicide by burning charcoal" has become a widely-used, and painless, way of ending one's life by inhaling carbon monoxide from charcoal of incomplete combustion.

Translation:  President Chen was the one responsible when Taiwanese carbon monoxide victims took their own lives.  Such was the quality of political debate in Taiwan over the past two years -- though the KMT and its media allies may come to regret having turned these numbers into a political issue.  There's talk of a looming global recession of late, and if that happens, Taiwan's self-inflicted death numbers probably won't decrease.  In fact, they might very well increase.  And I don't imagine the opposition will feel too restrained now in turning the tables and pinning all those suicides on KMT President Ma Ying-jeou.

Will that be unfair?  You bet.  But Ma will have little right to complain - after all, we didn't hear HIM trying to cool such talk when it was HIS team pointing fingers.

Interestingly enough, the Taiwan News featured this short story a day after Ting's column:

Hsu Chao-jung, the founder of the Taiwan Association of Veterans and Veteran's Families self-immolated in his car yesterday evening at the planned "War and Peace Memorial Park" in Cijing, Kaohsiung City. Hsu's daughter confirmed with the police that the burning body was the remains of her father.

Hsu had actively fought for the welfare of Taiwanese veterans and also expended lots of effort on preserving their history. Hsu's friends said Hsu had recently complained about the disappointment he felt toward society, as it had overlooked the veteran's contribution and well-being. Hsu also expressed his deep disappointment with the Kuomintang regaining power. 

The coast guard outpost next to the park first discovered a burning car and reported it to Chungchow Precinct. The police found a burning body in the car, and suspected the incident was a case of self-immolation.  [emphasis added]

There was a similar case a couple months ago, after Ma won the election.  Which means Ma Ying-jeou has already claimed TWO victims - and he hasn't even been president A WEEK yet!

THOSE are the ugly politics the KMT have cultivated . . . and those are the politics the KMT richly deserves.
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Postscript:  Taiwan's national suicide rate is 18.8 out of every 100,000.  High, far too high.  But what of China?  You know, the place the Post assures its readers is the way of the future, the land of milk and honey, Taiwan's inevitable motherland?  How many people kill themselves THERE?

Answer:  23 out of every 100,000 people.  That's four more than Taiwan under the hated Chen Shui-bian.   How odd it is then, that the boys in Beijing seem to have COMPLETELY escaped the KMT's (and the China Post's) opprobrium.

Comments

[Richard]

I've heard this ugly criticism of the DPP before. Your PS is spot on. Thanks for posting.