神马文学网台湾来到生死门
来源：百度文库 编辑：神马文学网 时间：2024/06/03 06:55:45
● 周锐鹏
By Chew Juai Fong
在陈水扁总统的女婿赵建铭被揭发涉嫌台开公司内线交易的时候，总统府传出了第一夫人吴淑珍评论爱婿的一句生动俗语：“盖头鳗，不知生死门。”
在学界、社运界的民进党“老战友”羞于陈水扁家属和亲信的SOGO礼券弊案越揭越多，而公开呼吁陈水扁引咎辞职的时候，备受震撼的行政院长苏贞昌也说现在是民进党的“生死门”。
如今，时间又过了一个多月，弊案竟又添了好几桩，而案中人正直接指向了陈水扁本人。
民怨已沸腾，否则，区区一个落魄政坛的施明德如何能在一个星期里就号召百万人汇来一亿元新台币，以示矢志倒扁？
到了这个时候，究竟赵建铭是跨入生门还是死门、民进党是跨入生门还是死门，都已经不太重要。甚至连陈水扁自己如何过这道生死门，也未必再像几个月前那样牵动人心，因为，现在真正来到生死门前的，是整个台湾。世人将要看台湾究竟是跨进眩目的光明还是无尽的黑暗。
这个岛屿，50余年来都在标榜自己的光明。早在蒋家统治下的威权年代，它就自认是“自由的灯塔”、“中华文化的堡垒”。在中国大陆改革开放初绽异彩的时候，台湾抢先一步“宁静革命”，跃上“第三波”民主化潮头。富裕！自由！民主！除了台北街头有点混乱的交通，台湾仿佛是丑小鸭变了天鹅，台湾人把头昂得很高……
骄傲？抱歉，它现在是羞于启齿的“尿失禁”！
谁能想象堂堂总统府需要向民间搜罗商业发票来申报国务机要费？谁又能想象堂堂总统府须要忙着公布各种故事，来说明查不了账的公款是用在了什么“外交”？这样的台湾，叫人同情。亲绿学者忍不住疾呼“So, go阿扁”，别让台湾民主政治与民主认同陷入严重道德危机。不！陈水扁说，他要让司法还他清白……
清白？抱歉，在涉案女婿、亲信、权贵的起诉书和结案理由里，竟又让众媒体找到了检察官“吃案”的嫌疑！
到了这个地步，民主政治的两根支柱——道德规范和司法正义——已经濒临崩塌。如果台湾的民主政治支柱崩塌了，台湾也崩塌了，要不然它还能剩下什么呢？
陈水扁可能是清白的，但是，除非他在政治上自我了断，以道德尊严赎回不可明说的冤屈，或者，通过经得起台湾2300万人检验的司法，来证明他的无辜，否则，他只能硬闯生死门，台湾的民主政治也只能被拉着硬闯生死门。
问题是，死得不好，非但不能解脱，连下辈子也会很不好过！几年前，台湾风行一本由藏传佛教大师索甲仁波切写的书，叫做《西藏生死书》，从领导人到平民百姓，一时之间都兴起学习生死之道。有趣，这本书告诉人们，即使你敢死，也未必就能一了百了。
·作者是《联合早报》评论员。
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.
By Chew Juai Fong
在陈水扁总统的女婿赵建铭被揭发涉嫌台开公司内线交易的时候，总统府传出了第一夫人吴淑珍评论爱婿的一句生动俗语：“盖头鳗，不知生死门。”
在学界、社运界的民进党“老战友”羞于陈水扁家属和亲信的SOGO礼券弊案越揭越多，而公开呼吁陈水扁引咎辞职的时候，备受震撼的行政院长苏贞昌也说现在是民进党的“生死门”。
如今，时间又过了一个多月，弊案竟又添了好几桩，而案中人正直接指向了陈水扁本人。
民怨已沸腾，否则，区区一个落魄政坛的施明德如何能在一个星期里就号召百万人汇来一亿元新台币，以示矢志倒扁？
到了这个时候，究竟赵建铭是跨入生门还是死门、民进党是跨入生门还是死门，都已经不太重要。甚至连陈水扁自己如何过这道生死门，也未必再像几个月前那样牵动人心，因为，现在真正来到生死门前的，是整个台湾。世人将要看台湾究竟是跨进眩目的光明还是无尽的黑暗。
这个岛屿，50余年来都在标榜自己的光明。早在蒋家统治下的威权年代，它就自认是“自由的灯塔”、“中华文化的堡垒”。在中国大陆改革开放初绽异彩的时候，台湾抢先一步“宁静革命”，跃上“第三波”民主化潮头。富裕！自由！民主！除了台北街头有点混乱的交通，台湾仿佛是丑小鸭变了天鹅，台湾人把头昂得很高……
骄傲？抱歉，它现在是羞于启齿的“尿失禁”！
谁能想象堂堂总统府需要向民间搜罗商业发票来申报国务机要费？谁又能想象堂堂总统府须要忙着公布各种故事，来说明查不了账的公款是用在了什么“外交”？这样的台湾，叫人同情。亲绿学者忍不住疾呼“So, go阿扁”，别让台湾民主政治与民主认同陷入严重道德危机。不！陈水扁说，他要让司法还他清白……
清白？抱歉，在涉案女婿、亲信、权贵的起诉书和结案理由里，竟又让众媒体找到了检察官“吃案”的嫌疑！
到了这个地步，民主政治的两根支柱——道德规范和司法正义——已经濒临崩塌。如果台湾的民主政治支柱崩塌了，台湾也崩塌了，要不然它还能剩下什么呢？
陈水扁可能是清白的，但是，除非他在政治上自我了断，以道德尊严赎回不可明说的冤屈，或者，通过经得起台湾2300万人检验的司法，来证明他的无辜，否则，他只能硬闯生死门，台湾的民主政治也只能被拉着硬闯生死门。
问题是，死得不好，非但不能解脱，连下辈子也会很不好过！几年前，台湾风行一本由藏传佛教大师索甲仁波切写的书，叫做《西藏生死书》，从领导人到平民百姓，一时之间都兴起学习生死之道。有趣，这本书告诉人们，即使你敢死，也未必就能一了百了。
·作者是《联合早报》评论员。
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.