Last week the media in Taiwan were all ablaze with the gossip of Kao Kuo-hua, owner of a major cram school being caught French-kissing a teacher from a competing cram school by vigilant paparazzi. One would wonder, why is this a big deal? It would be different if Taiwan's President had been caught in a gay tryst with a youthful page or such, but a cram school owner? Come on. ...

The uninitiated would not recognize it, and those whose only knowledge of Taiwan is to talk to pan-blue stalwart friends long esconced in the States would applaud it, but Taiwan got another of its monthly dosage of Ma-speak when Ma clamored that the USA should really hasten to sell Taiwan defensive arms etc. etc. ...

Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) needs some revamping and the KMT dominated Legislative Yuan can do the job so they say. Since they have a strong majority the KMT can do most anything it wants in the Legislative Yuan; so why are they hesitating to act, especially if the actions are necessary and needed? They did not hesitate to ram through the approval of ECFA that Ma wanted. So? Ah yes, it is an election year so they don't want to touch it till after the elections. ...

Taiwan has many problems, not only with its economy but even with its democracy and identity. In the past two years Taiwan's economy has gone nowhere but down under President Ma Ying-jeou; his 6-3-3 promise is at best a country wide joke. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) from its one-party state days up to the present still controls the Legislative Yuan. For this reason it maintains tremendous leverage, and its possession of the stolen state assets can go unchallenged. Thus, the KMT can continue to place party interests before Taiwan's national interests. Or put another way, the KMT only protects Taiwan's interests if they protect the KMT interests. This is the root of Taiwan's problems and what Taiwanese still have not yet grasped. The KMT is a carpetbagger party that exists to serve its carpetbagger interests and preserve the Constitutional fantasy that perpetuates its carpetbagger rights. ...

Yang Chiu-hsing went back on his word this past week. When the DPP had held their primaries in May, Yang entered and said he would support the winner whoever it would be; but when he lost, he changed his mind. ...

There was a time, not long ago, when Taiwanese were not allowed to speak Taiwanese. There was a time, not long ago, when Taiwanese could not say they were Taiwanese without being ridiculed. There was a worse time, also not that long ago, when Taiwanese were tortured and imprisoned if they wanted democracy. That time is what the movie, "Formosa Betrayed," opening in Taiwan theatres island-wide on August 6th is about.

For today's Taiwanese who have grown up in a democratic country with rule by law and freedom of the press, it is difficult to visualize anything of the oppression that the people endured during the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) one-party state under Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo. For that reason, and since the new film "Formosa Betrayed" will soon be opening on the island, it may be good to step back a few years and see some examples of that. I have already written of the imprisonment of Taiwanese Peng Ming-min for advocating democracy in the 1960s and his escape from the island. I have also written in the past about Dang Nylon (having a Chinese father and a Taiwanese mother) who identified himself as Taiwanese; Dang was harassed and immolated himself for the cause of democracy as late as 1989. Use the search engine on this site to find writings on them. A third person, however, that everyone should know about is Bo Yang (1920--2008) ...

Most short and long term visitors to Taiwan will comment on its unique characteristics, culture and style. Taiwan has an identity that makes it clearly different from all its neighbors; further its people are hardy, resilient and adaptive. Why? This is no doubt more than just the result of historical experience and development; it may also be its nature. Theorists certainly wonder how and why after century upon century of diverse colonizers, with each striving to impose its brand of imagined community on it, Taiwan has still managed to develop its own characteristics and culture. I posit that Taiwan did this not so much by rejection, but by absorbing the colonizing cultures and cross breeding them into its own indigenous ways and stock. In other words, Taiwanese have forged what can be called their own unique hybrid culture and way, the Taiwanese way. ...

Jason Hu was born in Beijing and grew up in the hierarchical, one-party state culture of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). As a one-party state, it was a culture of privilege, power, and entitlement. Within that culture one could easily rise if one had reasonable talent, kept one eye closed under the party mask of hierarchical respectability, and was loyal to the party regardless of its actions. It was a culture fostered by Chiang Kai-shek (CKS), a warlord among warlords and one who manipulated events so that he seemed the logical choice to bear the mantle of Sun Yat-sen. If one followed the above precepts particularly that of loyalty, one could expect to be taken care of by the benevolence of the KMT. Jason Hu did that and was rewarded by being its representative for Mayor of Taichung. ...

The November elections approach and the voters of Taipei have many questions to ask. One important question concerns the quality of Mayor Hau Lung-bin's past leadership. When it comes to quality, whether it is Quality Assurance, Quality Control and/or Quality Management, those familiar with the topic would know the name of Philip Crosby, author of "Quality is Free" (1979). In that work, Crosby gives his famous maxim, "Do it right the first time." Crosby's maxim is simple and direct, and it explains the title of his book. If a person, a company, a mayor, or the mayor's staff does something right the first time, then there will be no need for the cost of re-doing it or for the cost for repairs. In other words, quality will be free. ...