I didn't vote 我沒投票

KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou won the election. I didn’t vote for him. I didn’t vote for his opponent, the DPP’s Frank Hsieh either. From 7h00 morning of elections, I was posted where Nobel Laureate Lee Yuan-tseh’s was expected to come to vote. Although he is an academic, but because he often makes very bold political statements, his actions in public are closely watched. In the afternoon, I was sent to Ma Ying-jeou’s residence to film neighbors setting off firecrackers in celebration, and was there until after 20h00. Honestly, if I had the opportunity to vote, I think I would have cast an invalid ballot in protest of how politics in Taiwan is conducted.

國民黨總統候選人馬英九當選，
不過我沒投給他，
也沒投給民進黨候選人謝長廷。
選舉當天，早上七點就在
前中研院長李遠哲的投票所。
下午，我被派到馬英九家外面，
拍鄰居放鞭炮慶祝的畫面。
晚上八點之後才又回到公司。
但是說實在，如果有機會投票，
我想我會投廢票，
抗議台灣政治亂象。
別看我乖乖的，
我可是hippy發源地舊金山長大的呦。

Events leading up to the elections were quite exciting. First, a KMT legislature stormed the DPP candidate’s campaign headquarters, causing a ruckus and nonstop apologies from the KMT candidate the next day. The DPP camp had a field day with this. The legislator resigned and held a press conference saying that he would consider ending his life if this caused the KMT candidate to lose. Then the secretary general of the ministry of education publicly accused the KMT candidate’s late father of being promiscuous, saying instead of having a god-daughter he was having a f***-daughter. While the sec-gen did have a reputation of being a potty mouth in public, this was way over the edge. He resigned from his post that night via telephone. (His boss, the minister of education did not know of any of this until the sec-gen rang him. I wonder how he explained what he did and what he said.) Polls showed he caused a 6% slide. Then violence breaks out in Tibet, again becoming ammunition for the DPP, saying that this is what will happen if you vote for the pro-unification KMT. The media, however, commented that the DPP would have needed China to squash out the Tibet uprisings three times over to make up for the damage the sec-gen caused.

選舉前發生的一些事情還真exciting.
國民黨立委費鴻泰帶著一群人到
民進黨競選總部踢館大鬧，
隔天包括馬英九也出來不停的道歉。
可想而知，民進黨那邊就拿這個來打國民黨。
費鴻泰為這是見道歉，辭黨職，
招開記者會說如果這造成馬英九落選，
不排除結束生命。
(心裡想，國民黨版的王世堅跳／失足落海?)
不過接下來，換教育部主秘莊國榮
在台中造勢場子，上台批評馬英九
已故父親馬鶴凌愛玩女人，
乾女兒是*女兒。
平常就有個公開場合講粗話的名聲，
莊國榮這次太過火了。
當晚，他打電話向教育部長杜正勝請辭。
(杜正勝直到接了莊國榮的電話
才知道發生事情，但是我很好奇，
莊國榮是如何跟杜正勝解釋
發生了什麼事，用了什麼不當的
言語)
隔天，民調顯示，莊國榮失言
造成了民進黨6%的下滑。
不過接下來就發生了中國鎮壓西藏
的事情，馬上成為民進黨的子彈，
嚇選民，如果投給馬英九，
台灣就會成為第二個西藏。
雖然這幫助了民進黨選情，
但是媒體報導，要三個西藏
才抵得過一個莊國榮。

Although not one person or factor caused the DPP to lose hold of power, the general sentiment was that people felt disappointed by the corruption associated with the DPP (especially with President Chen Shui-bian’s family) over the past eight years and wage stagnation since the DPP came into power.

雖然不是任何一個人
還是一個事件讓民進黨
無法保住執政權，
但是general sentiment是
大部分選民對民進黨貪污
(尤其是陳水扁總統家庭的貪污)
已經徹底的失望，
加上民進黨執政八年來
大家沒賺到更多錢。

My feeling is, Chen and his DPP worked hard to give the Taiwanese people pride and identity. They wanted to be recognized as the independent country “Taiwan” in the international political arena. They wanted those divorce papers signed and be legal and put an end to the mess. During this process, the DPP tried to convince people that they need to be a part of this action, and to join the effort. This effectively turned everyone into political activists. In general, young political activists who are successful turn into rich politicians, and the other political activists (which make up the vast majority) continue to be starving students, still angry and still sitting in the cold and still going nowhere underneath that 大中至正 or 自由廣場 sign. Metaphorically, the Taiwanese have become those starving, angry students who have not gone anywhere and are still going nowhere. I think in addition to the Chen family’s corruption, people are tired of being hungry and going nowhere, and thus turned to the smooth-talking Ma Ying-jeou, who may not seem the brightest person, but decent enough to give a chance to.

我的感覺是，陳水扁和民進黨
這幾年來努力的為台灣人民
在國際上爭取身分和尊嚴。
他們要讓台灣在國際政壇上
被認定是一個獨立的國家”台灣”。
他們要台灣和大陸的離婚證書在
法律上生效。
這過程當中，民進黨努力
說服人民，這是全民活動，
大家要一起來。
也就是說，好像把國民全都
變成了社運人士。
一般來講，年輕的社運人士
如果成功了，就會變成
有錢的政治家。
如果不成功，就繼續當
又餓又冷又生氣的窮學生，
日夜在大中至正/自由廣場牌匾下
靜坐。
所以就像沒成功的社運學生，
人民感覺又餓又冷又沒達到什麼目標，
加上第一家庭的貪污，
許多人把寶貴的那一票投給
口才好又瀟灑的馬英九。
雖然好像不是那麼的聰明，
但是大家還是覺得一票投給他，
下四個年頭，就讓他來試試看吧。