The Party of Violence

Compare if you will these two reports from the aftermath of the 2004 and 2008 Presidential Elections.

2004

A pan-blue campaign truck rams into the gate of the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office while demonstrators try to push the gate over early yesterday morning.

Lien demands an immediate recount
... violent protests erupted in Taichung and Kaohsiung, where pan-blue supporters, led by pan-blue legislators, tried to force their way through police cordons and into local court offices to demand an immediate recount. Pan-blue legislators took turns addressing the crowds from the back of trucks, which seemed to inflame the protesters' emotions. Current Legislator at large Chiu-Yi was on top of that blue truck ramming the police and went to jail for 18 months for the offense before being pardoned by Chen and then selected for election by the KMT for the Jan 2008 Legislative Yuan elections. He is now free to appear on TV every night and ram home his vendetta against Chen whilst Chen is in jail. Oh the irony.

2008

Supporters of Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh hang their heads after it became apparent that Hsieh would lose the election yesterday. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won more than 58 percent of the vote.

Presidential election 2008: Losing Ticket: ANALYSIS: Hsieh had odds stacked against him, analysts say

Quite a difference .. no large scale protest or demand for a recount (yes i know the margin was much greater and there was no shooting incident beforehand).

What is useful also to remember are the comments of the vitorious after election. The Taipei Times records some as follows:

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) won an emphatic victory over his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival in yesterday's presidential poll, regaining power for the first time since the DPP ended the KMT's rule eight years ago.

KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) led party officials in a bow to the public, vowing to implement clean and effective government. He said he expected a stern examination of the KMT by the public now that it was the ruling party again.

"I can reassure all Taiwanese that there will be no one-party dominance. The people are the masters and the KMT is determined to meet the people's expectations," Wu said.

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) echoed Ma and Wu's promises that a "one-party dominance" would not appear under a KMT government.

"One-party governance would only make the Legislative Yuan more humble," Wang said.

I ask all those who read this blog, do you think that one year after the election we are now seeing effective one party dominance in the Legislature and in local governance? Is Ma carrying out the wishes of the people according to his pre-election promises or not?