Dr.
J. Bryan "Jerry" Collester
An Analysis of Taiwan's 2001 Election by J. Bryan Collester concluded with
13 Articles - A 'Thank You' from SCANEWS
By SCANEWS Staff
Dr. Jerry Collester made a conclusion remark after completing 13 articles
to voice his points of view about Taiwan's 2001 election by saying: "We
must think globally, but act Locally."
Twenty-nine scholars and analysts of Asia from the United States, Japan,
Australia, New Zealand and Europe were invited for a week by the Taiwan
(ROC) government to observe the parliamentary (Legislative Yuan) and local
elections on 12/01/2001. After Dr. Collester returned from that trip and
accepted SCANEW's invitation to write about his observations and
impressions about Taiwan, its government, people and its democracy. These
articles were published weekly from December 13, 2001 to March 14,
2002. All of the articles can be viewed on
www.scanews.com/collester.
Many readers responded to Collester's comments enthusiastically
with both compliments and criticisms. "Collester's Desk" was the first
attempt by SCANEWS to provide an open forum voicing different perspectives
to a very controversial issue. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP), which controls the presidency, finally surpassed the Kuomintang
(KMT) in Dec 1,2001 parliamentary election. It was a significant victory
for democracy in Taiwan and begins a new era with a tri-partisanship of
DPP, KMT and the People First Party (PFP). In addition, the New Party
(NP), the tiny offshoot of the KMT fell far behind. As Dr. Collester
pointed out in his two articles: "Ballots of 'Black and Gold'", -
"President Chen's commitment to cleaning up political campaigns and
seeking to eliminate "black and gold" politics is a vital step in the
evolution of democratic elections in Taiwan... These are momentous
changes, and they will have far-reaching and democratic consequences."
"One China Or Two" is another heated debate regardless of geographical,
ethnic, national or international stands. U.S. relations with both China
and Taiwan balance on very tricky grounds. Even Dr. Collester's
compromising suggestion of "To support Taiwan, one does NOT need to reject
China (PRC)", "will not be agreed by ... those analysts and
pundits who..." support either China or Taiwan, using Collester's own words.
J. Bryan Collester has been a member of Principia College's faculty since
1974. He is a Professor of Political Science and also serves the College
as Director of the Cox School of Government, and administrator for the
Helen Dwight Reid International Fellowship and Clayton D. Ford Award for
Graduate Studies in Government and Law. Collester is a graduate from
Principia College and received his Master and Doctorate degrees from
Indiana University.
Dr. Collester not only presented his analytical and expert opinions, he
challenged readers to think through these issues and he hopes this open
debate can bring "new ideas and perhaps some healing balm to a very
discordant area." This hopeful thought may be echoed by everyone who is
concerned about Taiwan.
We appreciated very much Dr. Collester's willingness to spend many hours
behind his desk and to share his points of view with our readers. With
Collester's great passion and concerns about China and Taiwan, we look
forward to seeing more of his articles.
Dr. Collester, please do not let readers wait for too long! |
