In Taipei
AS PRESIDENT, Chen Shui-bian has long purported to fight for Taiwan’s international space. On Tuesday, he succeeded in winning Taiwan precious space on the front pages of newspapers worldwide when he became the island’s first former president to be arrested.
The next day, the media in Taiwan noted the big splash made by their former commander in chief. Many lamented the blow to Taiwan’s international image.
President Ma Ying-jeou was pained by how Mr Chen’s arrest gave the world the impression that Taiwan was a place ridden with corruption.
But he refused to condemn, trying instead to set the tone in his usual cautious and measured way with four words: Ai Jing Wu Xi, which means ‘Be compassionate, not happy.’
Mr Chen should serve as a reminder to others to be upright, he said.
Kuomintang head honcho Wu Poh-hsiung was also careful to strike a neutral note, repeating the same four words and looking subdued when asked about Mr Chen’s arrest.
But other KMT politicians could hardly suppress their glee.
Lawmaker Chiu Yi, a prominent whistleblower who has been trying to expose the Chen’s financial irregularities, could hardly wipe the smile off his face.
“I’m going to laugh loudly thrice,” he said, when asked what he would do when Mr Chen is formally detained.
Another KMT lawmaker Hong Hsiu-chu was all for setting off firecrackers – which some residents in Chiayi and Taichung counties had already done.
Popular satirical show Party was also gleeful in its take on Mr Chen’s arrest. Bacy Tang, or Chung Chung, the comedian who shot to fame for impersonating Mr Chen, gave a rousing rendition of a pop song whose lyrics went, “Say goodbye, say gooodbbyyyyyyeee!”
Others struck a more elegiac tone, mourning the loss of innocence of a poor farmer’s boy who was the top scholar at National Taiwan University’s law faculty – cradle of the island’s politicians – and the first opposition politician to be elected to the island’s top office in 2000.
Some also spared a thought for Mr Chen's mother, who has reportedly been absenting herself from weddings to avoid shame.
But scholars sympathetic to the pro-independence grit their teeth and shook their heads at how Mr Chen had nearly bankrupted the cause for the sake of his own gains.
And there are some, like Professor Yen Chen-shen, from National Chengchi University, who sees a silver lining in the dark clouds which have amassed over Taiwan since last week’s violent protests over a visiting China official.
He has a dream, of a Taiwan where people will become more rational, respect people with different views but not allow such views to be used to justify abuse of power.
He also dreams of an opposition party that is stronger, more responsible and bold enough to say goodbye to its former leader Chen.
Last week, Barack Obama overcame racial divisions to become the first African-American president in a country where African-Americans used to be slaves.
Can Taiwan rise above internal divisions to become a place where inflammatory politicians preaching hatred are rejected for rational politicians with the public good in mind? Can politicians sit down to resolve their differences instead of grabbing each other's throats for that 15 seconds on TV?
Yes, Taiwan can?