台灣來到生死門

● 周銳鵬

By Chew Juai Fong

　　在陳水扁總統的女婿趙建銘被揭發涉嫌台開公司內線交易的時候，總統府傳出了第一夫人吳淑珍評論愛婿的一句生動俗語：“蓋頭鰻，不知生死門。”

　　在學界、社運界的民進黨“老戰友”羞于陳水扁家屬和親信的SOGO禮券弊案越揭越多，而公開呼吁陳水扁引咎辭職的時候，備受震撼的行政院長蘇貞昌也說現在是民進黨的“生死門”。

　　如今，時間又過了一個多月，弊案竟又添了好几樁，而案中人正直接指向了陳水扁本人。

　　民怨已沸騰，否則，區區一個落魄政壇的施明德如何能在一個星期里就號召百萬人匯來一億元新台幣，以示矢志倒扁？

　　到了這個時候，究竟趙建銘是跨入生門還是死門、民進黨是跨入生門還是死門，都已經不太重要。甚至連陳水扁自己如何過這道生死門，也未必再像几個月前那樣牽動人心，因為，現在真正來到生死門前的，是整個台灣。世人將要看台灣究竟是跨進眩目的光明還是無盡的黑暗。

　　這個島嶼，50余年來都在標榜自己的光明。早在蔣家統治下的威權年代，它就自認是“自由的燈塔”、“中華文化的堡壘”。在中國大陸改革開放初綻異彩的時候，台灣搶先一步“寧靜革命”，躍上“第三波”民主化潮頭。富裕！自由！民主！除了台北街頭有點混亂的交通，台灣仿佛是丑小鴨變了天鵝，台灣人把頭昂得很高……

　　驕傲？抱歉，它現在是羞于啟齒的“尿失禁”！

　　誰能想象堂堂總統府需要向民間搜羅商業發票來申報國務機要費？誰又能想象堂堂總統府須要忙著公布各種故事，來說明查不了賬的公款是用在了什么“外交”？這樣的台灣，叫人同情。親綠學者忍不住疾呼“So, go阿扁”，別讓台灣民主政治與民主認同陷入嚴重道德危機。不！陳水扁說，他要讓司法還他清白……

　　清白？抱歉，在涉案女婿、親信、權貴的起訴書和結案理由里，竟又讓眾媒體找到了檢察官“吃案”的嫌疑！

　　到了這個地步，民主政治的兩根支柱──道德規范和司法正義──已經瀕臨崩塌。如果台灣的民主政治支柱崩塌了，台灣也崩塌了，要不然它還能剩下什么呢？

　　陳水扁可能是清白的，但是，除非他在政治上自我了斷，以道德尊嚴贖回不可明說的冤屈，或者，通過經得起台灣2300萬人檢驗的司法，來証明他的無辜，否則，他只能硬闖生死門，台灣的民主政治也只能被拉著硬闖生死門。

　　問題是，死得不好，非但不能解脫，連下輩子也會很不好過！几年前，台灣風行一本由藏傳佛教大師索甲仁波切寫的書，叫做《西藏生死書》，從領導人到平民百姓，一時之間都興起學習生死之道。有趣，這本書告訴人們，即使你敢死，也未必就能一了百了。

﹒作者是《聯合早報》評論員。

Taiwan at the "gate of life and death"

When Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian''s son-in-law Chao Chien-ming was detained in May on suspicion of insider trading involving property company Taiwan Development Corp, First Lady Wu Shu-chen was said to have referred to a folk saying which aptly described the trouble that Chao had got himself into - "an eel with its head covered and has no idea of its impending death".

More recently, with fresh allegations of graft such as the receiving of Sogo vouchers against president Chen''s family and close aides and amid calls for the president to quit by disillusioned academics and social activists who are long-time comrades in arms of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, Premier Su Tseng-chang, who has also been reeling from the public backlash, was said to have used the same analogy to remark that the DPP has come to the "gate of life and death".

More than a month has since passed and there have been several more corruption allegations that implicate the president himself.

Public discontent is boiling over. Which is why former chairman of the DPP Shih Ming-teh, who is no longer influential, has been able to get one million Taiwanese to pledge a total of NT$100 million within a week to show their support for his campaign to oust Chen Shui-bian.

At this point, it really does not matter whether Chao or the DPP ends up in the "gate of life" or the "gate of death".

Even the question of whether Chen Shui-bian will survive the crisis perhaps no longer concerns the people as much as it did several months ago.

This is because it is now Taiwan that has been brought to the "gate of life and death". And the world is watching to see if it will step into "dazzling brightness" or "eternal darkness".

For more than 50 years, the island has been bragging about how bright and promising it is.

Even when it was under the absolute control of the Chiang Kai-shek family, it already claimed to be "a beacon of freedom" and "the bastion of Chinese culture".

By the time reforms started in China and began to produce impressive results, Taiwan had already undergone a "quiet revolution" to ride on the "Third Wave of Democratisation".

Affluence! Freedom! Democracy! Never mind the somewhat chaotic traffic in Taipei, the island is like the ugly duckling which has turned into a swan and Taiwanese have been able to hold their heads high.

Pride? Not anymore. Now the island is more like someone who suffers from incontinence and is too embarrassed to talk about it!

Who would have thought that the Presidential Office had been using other people''s receipts to claim special state affairs expenses?

Who would have thought that the Presidential Office had also been busy making up stories daily on money spent on "diplomatic operations" for which it also could not account for.

It''s a sorry state of affairs. "So, go Chen Shui-bian," even "green scholars" have urged the president to quit. They do not want Taiwan''s democratic system to plunge into a moral crisis. "No!" said the president who insists that he can defend his innocence in court.

Innocence? Hardly. In the charges against the president''s son-in-law, close aides and other powerful figures and the subsequent decisions to drop some of them, the media has found evidence to suggest that the prosecution has let some off the hook.

Things have come to a head and the two pillars of democracy - morality and the justice system - are on the verge of collapse. And if they crumbled, so would Taiwan. What could possibly be left?

　　Chen Shui-bian may be innocent. But unless he steps down to take the blame for matters which cannot be explained to preserve his moral dignity or face the judicial system that must be able to stand the scrutiny of 23 million Taiwanese to prove his innocence, he, and inevitably Taiwan''s democratic system as well, will be confronted with what lies ahead - either the "gate of life" or the "gate of death".

The problem is: Not dying a "good death" will not bring relief and will also mean pain and suffering in the afterlife!

A few years ago, a book titled "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" by Tibetan master Sogyal took Taiwan by storm. From leaders to the man in the street, everyone was crazy about learning the art of living and dying.

Interestingly, according to the book, even if you are not afraid to die, it may not mean the end of all troubles.

The writer is a leader writer of Lianhe Zaobao. Translated by Yap Gee Poh.

● 周銳鵬

By Chew Juai Fong

　　在陳水扁總統的女婿趙建銘被揭發涉嫌台開公司內線交易的時候，總統府傳出了第一夫人吳淑珍評論愛婿的一句生動俗語：“蓋頭鰻，不知生死門。”

　　在學界、社運界的民進黨“老戰友”羞于陳水扁家屬和親信的SOGO禮券弊案越揭越多，而公開呼吁陳水扁引咎辭職的時候，備受震撼的行政院長蘇貞昌也說現在是民進黨的“生死門”。

　　如今，時間又過了一個多月，弊案竟又添了好几樁，而案中人正直接指向了陳水扁本人。

　　民怨已沸騰，否則，區區一個落魄政壇的施明德如何能在一個星期里就號召百萬人匯來一億元新台幣，以示矢志倒扁？

　　到了這個時候，究竟趙建銘是跨入生門還是死門、民進黨是跨入生門還是死門，都已經不太重要。甚至連陳水扁自己如何過這道生死門，也未必再像几個月前那樣牽動人心，因為，現在真正來到生死門前的，是整個台灣。世人將要看台灣究竟是跨進眩目的光明還是無盡的黑暗。

　　這個島嶼，50余年來都在標榜自己的光明。早在蔣家統治下的威權年代，它就自認是“自由的燈塔”、“中華文化的堡壘”。在中國大陸改革開放初綻異彩的時候，台灣搶先一步“寧靜革命”，躍上“第三波”民主化潮頭。富裕！自由！民主！除了台北街頭有點混亂的交通，台灣仿佛是丑小鴨變了天鵝，台灣人把頭昂得很高……

　　驕傲？抱歉，它現在是羞于啟齒的“尿失禁”！

　　誰能想象堂堂總統府需要向民間搜羅商業發票來申報國務機要費？誰又能想象堂堂總統府須要忙著公布各種故事，來說明查不了賬的公款是用在了什么“外交”？這樣的台灣，叫人同情。親綠學者忍不住疾呼“So, go阿扁”，別讓台灣民主政治與民主認同陷入嚴重道德危機。不！陳水扁說，他要讓司法還他清白……

　　清白？抱歉，在涉案女婿、親信、權貴的起訴書和結案理由里，竟又讓眾媒體找到了檢察官“吃案”的嫌疑！

　　到了這個地步，民主政治的兩根支柱──道德規范和司法正義──已經瀕臨崩塌。如果台灣的民主政治支柱崩塌了，台灣也崩塌了，要不然它還能剩下什么呢？

　　陳水扁可能是清白的，但是，除非他在政治上自我了斷，以道德尊嚴贖回不可明說的冤屈，或者，通過經得起台灣2300萬人檢驗的司法，來証明他的無辜，否則，他只能硬闖生死門，台灣的民主政治也只能被拉著硬闖生死門。

　　問題是，死得不好，非但不能解脫，連下輩子也會很不好過！几年前，台灣風行一本由藏傳佛教大師索甲仁波切寫的書，叫做《西藏生死書》，從領導人到平民百姓，一時之間都興起學習生死之道。有趣，這本書告訴人們，即使你敢死，也未必就能一了百了。

﹒作者是《聯合早報》評論員。

Taiwan at the "gate of life and death"

When Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian''s son-in-law Chao Chien-ming was detained in May on suspicion of insider trading involving property company Taiwan Development Corp, First Lady Wu Shu-chen was said to have referred to a folk saying which aptly described the trouble that Chao had got himself into - "an eel with its head covered and has no idea of its impending death".

More recently, with fresh allegations of graft such as the receiving of Sogo vouchers against president Chen''s family and close aides and amid calls for the president to quit by disillusioned academics and social activists who are long-time comrades in arms of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, Premier Su Tseng-chang, who has also been reeling from the public backlash, was said to have used the same analogy to remark that the DPP has come to the "gate of life and death".

More than a month has since passed and there have been several more corruption allegations that implicate the president himself.

Public discontent is boiling over. Which is why former chairman of the DPP Shih Ming-teh, who is no longer influential, has been able to get one million Taiwanese to pledge a total of NT$100 million within a week to show their support for his campaign to oust Chen Shui-bian.

At this point, it really does not matter whether Chao or the DPP ends up in the "gate of life" or the "gate of death".

Even the question of whether Chen Shui-bian will survive the crisis perhaps no longer concerns the people as much as it did several months ago.

This is because it is now Taiwan that has been brought to the "gate of life and death". And the world is watching to see if it will step into "dazzling brightness" or "eternal darkness".

For more than 50 years, the island has been bragging about how bright and promising it is.

Even when it was under the absolute control of the Chiang Kai-shek family, it already claimed to be "a beacon of freedom" and "the bastion of Chinese culture".

By the time reforms started in China and began to produce impressive results, Taiwan had already undergone a "quiet revolution" to ride on the "Third Wave of Democratisation".

Affluence! Freedom! Democracy! Never mind the somewhat chaotic traffic in Taipei, the island is like the ugly duckling which has turned into a swan and Taiwanese have been able to hold their heads high.

Pride? Not anymore. Now the island is more like someone who suffers from incontinence and is too embarrassed to talk about it!

Who would have thought that the Presidential Office had been using other people''s receipts to claim special state affairs expenses?

Who would have thought that the Presidential Office had also been busy making up stories daily on money spent on "diplomatic operations" for which it also could not account for.

It''s a sorry state of affairs. "So, go Chen Shui-bian," even "green scholars" have urged the president to quit. They do not want Taiwan''s democratic system to plunge into a moral crisis. "No!" said the president who insists that he can defend his innocence in court.

Innocence? Hardly. In the charges against the president''s son-in-law, close aides and other powerful figures and the subsequent decisions to drop some of them, the media has found evidence to suggest that the prosecution has let some off the hook.

Things have come to a head and the two pillars of democracy - morality and the justice system - are on the verge of collapse. And if they crumbled, so would Taiwan. What could possibly be left?

　　Chen Shui-bian may be innocent. But unless he steps down to take the blame for matters which cannot be explained to preserve his moral dignity or face the judicial system that must be able to stand the scrutiny of 23 million Taiwanese to prove his innocence, he, and inevitably Taiwan''s democratic system as well, will be confronted with what lies ahead - either the "gate of life" or the "gate of death".

The problem is: Not dying a "good death" will not bring relief and will also mean pain and suffering in the afterlife!

A few years ago, a book titled "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" by Tibetan master Sogyal took Taiwan by storm. From leaders to the man in the street, everyone was crazy about learning the art of living and dying.

Interestingly, according to the book, even if you are not afraid to die, it may not mean the end of all troubles.

The writer is a leader writer of Lianhe Zaobao. Translated by Yap Gee Poh.