Muninn

There has been a day of full protests here in Taipei. After lunch, Sayaka and I headed downtown to see what was going on. Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall and the surrounding area was pretty empty but a few thousand people were protesting in front of the KMT headquarters and the red presidential building. You can download all my pictures I took from today’s protests and last night’s victory rally near the DPP headquarters here (18 MB) but I’ll take them down eventually.



Opposition leaders Lian and Song are ready for a post-election war. After Chen Shuibian was elected for another term by a razor edge lead, opposition leaders Lian and Song declared the election invalid and their intention to sue for irregularities in the votes, etc. The votes are going to be recounted and the investigation into the assassination attempt on the 19th continues.



The protests on TV were getting out of hand with some rioting and violence around the country. What we saw was quite calm by comparison, with snack booths set up, songs being sung, and drinks and sandwiches being passed out to protesters. The government buildings were cordoned off by barbed wire and police lines on all sides, but individuals could pass through the 2/28 Memorial Park to get behind the police lines.



The riot police were friendly, that is, those who were still conscious. The police had been there since late last night when the protests started. They seemed to be rotating between those manning the lines and the dozens who were sleeping in their riot gear along the edge of the park or, if awake, enjoying a relaxed coffee in the park’s cafe. Some waved, one yelled in English, “Welcome to Taiwan” and I spoke a bit to one exhausted riot police officer surounded by the rest of his sleeping unit. No one seemed to be bothered by the fact we were wandering around in their carefully cordoned off area or that stray KMT protesters were wandering in from the park. I did hear however, that apparently this area was closed off more tightly later in the day as the protesters grew in number.

Later in the day TV showed more scenes of violence (a KMT truck tried to break through police lines somewhere) which my KMT friend assured me was rare (indeed we were puzzled at one TV shot of a man shaking the fence near where the above police line picture is – he could have just walked around if he wanted to get to the other side. The media was definitely looking for anything juicy) and there have been lots more photos released of Chen Shuibian’s exposed belly button, dazed face during his surgery, and various medical files all designed to put to an end questions about the assassination attempt.

Things are getting crazy here in Taiwan, much more so than yesterday (the election day). The opposition is out of control with anger and there are protests everywhere, some violence. Sayaka and I are going down town to see how things are in Taipei. This is sooo sad. I’ll be blogging here throughout the next few days and will update this entry today as I see things…

The Taiwan election is officially over and Chen Shuibian has won another term. I’ll be reading the various newspapers tomorrow at nearby coffee shops (which Taipei has an abundance of). The opposition KMT party has disputed the election, the suspicious facts surrounding the assassination attempt yesterday, hundreds of thousands of invalidated votes, etc. Whether or not foul play is proved regarding the assassination, or if some of the invalidated votes were done so unfairly, the dispute of the election is a blow to Taiwanese democracy and rings all too familiar. More on this at NYT and BBC in English. It would be very sad to see this get ugly in the next few days.

The election polls closed 48 minutes ago. All the TV channels are showing the votes adding up on screen. I don’t understand what is going on. Of the four channels we are flipping back and forth from, there are 3 different vote counts being displayed for the two sides (Blue and the President Chen’s Green). Two Channels have the KMT etc. (Blue) in the lead by 20,000 votes or so, one channel has it in the lead by 100,000 votes and the fourth channel has President Chen’s DPP etc. (Green) in the lead by 20,000. I don’t understand why there are these different counts…because of the way the numbers differ, it not just a matter of time lag. I’ll update this through this evening as I continue to watch. See the updates below:

Blue=KMT etc. (Lian and Song)
Green=DPP etc. (President Chen Shuibian)

• 16:50 TTV is showing KMT in the lead by 400,000 votes, TVBS shows KMT in the lead by 15,000, CTI shows KMT in the lead by 6,000 votes…
• 17:10 Channel 37 (?): Green by about 50,000 TVBS: Blue by about 15,000 TTV (Channel 40): Blue by about 350,000 CTI: Blue by 40,000 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 25,000 SET: Green by 100,000 TTV (Channel 44?) Blue by 350,000
• 17:30 Channel 37 (?): Blue by 3,000 TVBS: Blue by 200,000 TTV (Channel 40): Blue by 400,000 CTI: Blue by 40,000 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 50,000 SET: Blue by 80,000 TTV (Channel 44?) Blue by 410,000
• 18:00 Channel 37 (?): Blue by 60,000 at 5,324,264 TVBS: Blue by 18,000 with 5,346,171 TTV: Blue by 150,000 with 5,634,425 CTI: Blue by 200,000 at 5,589,979 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 130,000 at 5,078,662 SET: Blue by 70,000 at 5,494,622 Taishi (Ch. 8) Green by 1000 at 5,470,696 CTV (Ch. 10) Green by 50,000 at 5,933,906 Huashi (Ch. 12) Green by 50,000 at 5,383,564
  Referendum Results Got more than the 50% it needs to count, Minshi Xinwen scores show overwhelming support for both measures.
• 18:30 Channel 37 (?): Green by 17,000 at 6,162,565 TVBS: Green by 116,000 at 5,745,747 TTV: Green by 54,000 at 6,162,551 CTI: Green by 50,000 at 6,312,241 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 100,000 at 6,018,878 SET: Green by 30,000 at 5,954,745 Taishi (Ch. 8) Green by 3,000 at 6,261,157 CTV (Ch. 10) Green by 51,000 at 6,179,834 Huashi (Ch. 12) Green by 23,000 at 6,085,621
• 19:00 Channel 37 (?): Green by 60,000 at 6,306,247 TVBS: Green by 52,000 at 6,399,558 TTV: Green by 42,000 at 6,359,133 CTI: Green by 40,000 at 6,441,478 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 52,000 at 6,194,353 SET: Green by 90,000 at 6,334,543 Taishi (Ch. 8) Green by 7,000 at 6,359,499 CTV (Ch. 10) Green by 51,000 at 6,179,834 Huashi (Ch. 12) Green by 50,000 at 6,239,652
  Notes: People seem to be getting crazy now as the number of uncounted votes are dwindling, massive partying by the DPP, referendum votes are overwhelming for the two measures (strengthen defense and conduct dialogue) but Reuters is reporting there is probably not enough of the electorate voting in the referendum for it to count.
• 19:30 Channel 37 (?): Green by 130,000 at 6,514,209 TVBS: Green by 27,000 at 6,469,171 TTV: Green by 31,000 at 6,453,162 CTI: Green by 27,000 at 6,469,187 Minshi Xinwen: Green by 80,000 at 6,324,697 SET: Green by 36,000 at 6,466,477 Taishi (Ch. 8) Green by 21,000 at 6,421,698 CTV (Ch. 10) Green by 28,000 at 6,454,888 Huashi (Ch. 12) Green by 100,000 at 6,312,654
  Note: The vote number I’m giving is the amount of votes for the winner and the number of votes they are ahead is only approximate.
• 20:00 Channel 37 (?): Green by 23,000 at 6,463,568 TVBS: Green by 27,000 at 6,470,517 TTV: Green by 27,000 at 6,470,516 CTI: Green by 27,000 at 6,470,517 Minshi Xinwen: 89,000 at 6,393,918 SET: Green by 34,000 at 6,471,700 Taishi (Ch. 8) Green by 27,000 CTV (Ch. 10) Green by 27,000 at 6,470,786 Huashi (Ch. 12) Green by 33,000 at 6,476221

The 20:00 TV update will be my last. Sayaka and I have been watching this since about 16:30 this afternoon, with snacks in hand, and while at least all the channels now seem to agree that the president is going to slide into a second term, many still have different numbers. We are now going to head over to the DPP election headquarters (競選總部) here in Taipei where, at least on TV, there seems to be one massive happy victory party going on. The heading at the bottom of CTI TV channel right now says, 陳水扁輕傷，國民黨重傷 (Chen Shuibian received a minor injury, the Nationalist party has been badly injured) referring to the assassination attempt yesterday and the current grim election outcome for the KMT party. The KMT crowds look pretty miserable and their horns are not blowing with much enthusiasm any more, but their party spokesman (who I believe uttered the above line) says “we will never leave the KMT” Personally, I would like to see the party, with its long and marred history, dissolve and a new political scene develop in time for the next election. Ok, we are off to find the party…

Wow, my first full day in Taiwan and the President and VP have been shot (with one bullet?). They are in the hospital but not in critical condition. The election goes ahead tomorrow.

UPDATE: This happened about 13:45 this afternoon and special editions of the newspapers, evening papers and TV have been saying all sorts of contradictory things throughout the day. The presidential election, which was one of things I was looking forward to observing, will continue tomorrow as the VP and President seem to be fine but both sides have temporarily stopped campaign activities. Some articles on this in the Western media: CNN, New York Times, and BBC. UPDATE: Here is a Taipei Times (pro-DPP/president newspaper) article on the wound itself, including gory shot of his belly-button, wound. The military has been put on alert after the assasination attempt. Cries of a pro-DPP conspiracy abound (in other words, wounding their own candidate to get a few percent extra sympathy vote) amongst KMT supporters especially.