Farewell in modern usage derives from Middle English “farewel” or “fare wel” which is a combination of “fare (imperative of ‘faren – to go, get along, or succeed’” and ‘wel – well’ ”.We wish President Chen Shui-bian a farewell one day ahead of time.He is scheduled to leave office tomorrow, never to return of course.
The odds are that Chen Shui-bian, the retired president, won’t really fare well.He started his eight-year stint on an auspicious note, though he was a minority president.He won the election in 2000, thanks to a split in the then ruling Kuomintang which was detested by most of the people for arrogance and corruption.All the people looked forward to a momentous change for the better he would inaugurate with his inauguration.His approval ratings hit an unprecedented high 80 percent shortly after he had been sworn in. The people were let down, however.They didn’t want him to remain at the helms of the state four years later.But he won reelection, thanks to two homemade bullets, one of which grazed his abdomen on the eve of the 2004 presidential election.
Government corruption returned with a vengeance in President Chen’s second and last term.Most of his top assistants were indicted for corruption. So were many Cabinet ministers.He himself was involved in what has come to be known as the “state affairs fund” scandal.His wife was indicted for corruption, charged with borrowing invoices and receipts from friends and relatives to claim a NT$14.8 million from a public fund under his control for the conduct of “affairs of state.”Chen was not indicted, for he is immune against prosecution, but was regarded as an unindicted co-defendant who will be formally charged once he steps down as president.In fact, that is the very reason why Shih Ming-teh, a former chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party, led a March of One Million demanding Chen’s resignation and the opposition alliance of the Kuomintang and the People First Party tried to recall him three times, albeit all in vain, in 2006.
So there lingers a chance that Chen may be subpoenaed by prosecutors for questioning in connection of the scandal, for which the first lady is standing trial, the moment Ma Ying-jeou takes office to succeed him.He may wind up in jail like Chun Doo Hwan of South Korea, but unlike Fernando Marcos of the Philippines who fled to – and died in exile in – Hawaii with the help of the American authorities, who in fact feared, totally without grounds, Chen might not make government transfer peacefully.
On the other hand, the judiciary – a high priest of the powers that be in most of the countries the world over – may be after Chen Shui-bian, the man in the street.He may be implicated in at least two graft scandals: the “Taiwan Goal” and the diplomatic brokering between Taipei and Papua New Guinea.Taiwan Goal is the name Chen gave a government-funded company charged with purchasing sophisticated weapons and equipment.Two liars cheated the government out of US$30 million by claiming they could get Port Moresby to switch diplomatic recognition from Beijing to Taipei.
Chen Shui-bian is most likely to be convicted in the “state affairs fund” case.We believe Ma Ying-jeou would pardon him, if he were absolved of any involvement in the two latest scandals. After all, only part of the NT$14.8 million was misspent.It’s unnecessary to make a mountain out of a molehill.
President Chen is a man full of surprises.As a matter of fact, he is the most newsworthy president we’ve ever known.We in the press will be long missing him.That’s one more reason why we wish him a farewell.
（本文刊載於97.05.19 China Post第4版，本文代表作者個人意見）
