艾琳達評施明德倒扁行動

原文／michaelturton.blogspot.com
華文翻譯／JOHNNY"S CHANNEL

　At one time, Shih Ming-deh, personal name Nori, could claim credit for standing up against the dictatorship of the Kuomintang in the struggle to bring democracy to Taiwan. At the Kaohsiung Incident trials in March 1980 he made a brilliant argument that Taiwan had already been independent for thirty years. Chen Shui-bian entered his political life as a lawyer for the defendants then. I was proud to defend Nori's sacrifice in international human rights proclamations. 

　在台灣邁向民主的艱辛歷程中，施明德曾經一度站起來對抗國民黨獨裁政權而享有崇高的聲譽。1980年3月，高雄事件審判時，他慷慨激昂地宣稱台灣已經獨立30年了。陳水扁當年由於為高雄事件的被告辯護，因而踏入政治圈。而我則有幸能參與施明德對世界人權宣言的奉獻。

　In 1992 Shih Ming-deh lost the election for chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party to Hsu Hsin-liang because Hsu bought a few dozen critical delegate votes, Nori told me; but he did not want to tear the party apart to fight it. My own interviews inside the party supported this. Elected in 1994, and then allied with New Tide (Hsin Chao-liu), Nori made some effort to reform the DPP internally, without success. In my view, after that Shih Ming-deh began to lose the idealism and clarity of purpose that had marked his earlier words and actions. His "coffee meeting" to make a deal with New Party in late 1995 was widely criticized as failing the cause of Taiwan independence, and in his defensive reaction he began to hobnob with former enemies, defenders of martial law such as James Soong (Soong Chu-yu), who as head of the Government Information Office in 1980 had vilified Shih. 

　1992年，在民進黨主席選舉敗給許信良後，施明德告訴我這是因為許收買了幾十張關鍵的黨代表之故，但他不願分裂這個黨。我在黨內私下的訪談亦證實其所言不虛。爾後，他在1994年選上黨主席，並與新潮流結盟進行部分的黨內改革，只是功虧一簣。我認為，自此之後，施明德逐漸喪失理想性以及模糊了過去備受推崇的執著目標。他在1995年底與新黨「喝咖啡」和解，更廣受批評為拋棄了台灣獨立的初衷。然而，他的反應卻是與1980年曾任新聞局長、主張戒嚴法、並極力詆毀他的 昔日敵人宋楚瑜往來更加密切。

　Despite his earlier steeliness as a political prisoner for 25 years, or because of it, Shih Ming-deh's life habits did not do him well for the daily grind of administration as a legislator and party chairman, to my observation. A loner and a night-owl, he could not make office hours, or communicate systematically with his staff. Their dedication was mostly wasted. He was endlessly flattered by reporters and hangers-on, and addicted to women, drink, and cigarettes. I think it was this ineffectuality that left him to seek the limelight with statements that were striking but not team-coordinated. Lawyers such as Chen Shui-bian were used to written documents, hard work, early hours, and teamwork, and the lawyers soon upstaged him.

　雖然他早年堅忍不屈地坐過25年政治獄，或者正因為如此，他的生活習慣根本與立法委員或黨主席必須日理萬機的生活型態格格不入。他獨行俠和喜歡夜生活的作風，甚至無法讓他好好處理正事或與助理有條不紊地溝通。那些助理的貢獻幾乎徒勞無功，他則兀自享受記者與仰慕者無止境的阿諛奉承，而且沉溺於女人、飲酒和香菸。我想，就是這樣的無能，導致他不得不藉由發表一些具震撼性但非黨內共識的言論來成為新聞焦點。另一方面，那時像陳水扁這些律師立委早已熟悉處理書面文件，而且全心投入、早睡早起、注重團隊合作，這些都讓施明德相形見絀。

　Shih's 1998 campaign as well as his 2001 unsuccessful bid for a legislative seat in Taipei was designed by Rising Peoples' (Hsing Hsin Min-zu) Foundation, Hsu Hsin-liang's organization, whose founding had been largely attended by liberal KMT figures. Shih did not support Chen Shui-bian's drive for the presidency in 2000. Among others, he gave a talk at Shih Hsin University sponsored by a New Party figure, and after presenting his philosophy of how he survived as a prisoner, he ended with pot shots at Chen. According to Lin Chung-mo, Lin got tired of Shih's grandstanding and thinking he could manipulate other DPP legislators, and Lin drove him out of the party caucus in 2000.

　施明德於1998年以及2001年兩度重新問鼎國會的競選活動，都是由許信良的新興民族基金會於背後運作，而許信良的大部分資金卻是來自國民黨某些自由派人士的資助。施明德那時並不贊成陳水扁競選2000年總統。某次，他接受一位新黨人士的安排赴世新大學演講，就在說明他如何熬過監牢的折磨之後，便大肆抨擊陳水扁。根據林重謨的說法，他實在看不慣施明德譁眾取寵的作風，而且顧慮到施可能影響其他民進黨立委，因此，便在2000年將施趕出黨團會議。

　This is a brief glimpse of how I think Shih Ming-deh has come to play the role he has taken up now; people are continually asking me this. There has been a clear pattern of the KMT using former DPP figures to attack the DPP; and the KMT, formerly the richest political party in the world, has the resources to make this ploy attractive.

　人們總是關注我對施明德這次所扮演角色的意見，以下概略說明我對此事的看法。國民黨利用前民進黨主席修理民進黨，這早已司空見慣，而且國民黨──這個曾經是全世界最有錢的政黨──總有足夠的資源為這個活動擴大造勢。

　By now many years have passed, and although Shih Ming-deh sometime in the last year announced he was withdrawing from politics, he has now announced a campaign to unseat Chen Shui-bian, including the threat of extra-legal actions. Are we really to believe that Nori is doing this out of concern for the DPP and the highest of ideals? For the last six years at least his activities and announcements have seemed mysteriously coordinated with the interests of the Blue Forces, and even the Peoples First Party. PFP members, I was told, urged him to run for mayor of Kaohsiung, and provided the funding.

　雖然經過那麼多年，即使施明德去年曾經宣稱他正準備退出政壇，但是，他現在卻鼓吹阿扁下台的運動，更揚言採取法律之外的行動。我們真得可以相信施明德如此做完全出自對民進黨的關心，以及崇高的理想？過去6年來，至少他的一言一行或多或少都與藍營的利益一致，甚至曾有人告訴我，就是親民黨慫恿並提供資金給他參選高雄市長。

　If he is so concerned about corruption, why hasn't he spoken out in the past on Soong's Chung Hsin case, or the issue of KMT party property? Or the Lafayette case?

　如果施如此嫌惡貪污，那麼，他過去為何從不對宋楚瑜的興票案、國民黨的黨產問題或拉法葉艦案說過半句話？

　If Shih Ming-deh is to set himself up as the center of a crusade against corruption, then I think it is fair to ask him to make public his own finances for the last several years, and to face whether he has any interests together with the Kuomintang, which has been trying to bring down the DPP government from the very start, for a variety of pretexts, the first being Nuclear Power Plant No. 4.

　如果施明德要將他自己設定為反貪運動的核心，那麼，我們可以合理要求他公開近幾年的財務狀況，以及嚴肅地看待他是否和國民黨有任何利益關係，而國民黨其實早在民進黨執政之初，即處心積慮找遍各種理由要推倒民進黨，第一個便是核四案。

　Corruption has been long ingrained in Taiwan society, down to the lowest levels, and the change of ruling parties has only begun to alter the rules. We cannot defend the DPP in general or the President in particular in so far as they have taken the easier route of continuing past habits, trying to buy off the obstacles, and perhaps even lining their own pockets with unearned rewards. But is campaigning for Chen Shui-bian to step down now, without use of the present mechanisms of impeachment or recall, any advance towards democracy and the rule of law? Does it test or improve the present legal system? Or would it be a step back to the KMT's former easy appropriation of state resources and assets, when Ma Ying-jeou becomes president? 

　長久以來，貪污在台灣從上到下已根深蒂固，自從政黨輪替後，終於改變這個現象。我們並不能因為大部分民進黨人士，特別是總統，由於因循舊制、便宜行事，企圖收買「阻礙」人士甚至以不當利益填飽私人荷包而為之辯白，然而，現在的反扁運動不思訴諸現有彈劾或罷免體制，就能提升民主或法治？這是要測試抑或改善目前的法律制度嗎？或者只是準備讓馬英九當選總統後，退回國民黨從前濫用國家資源及財產的時代？（譯註：因為不訴諸法律面，則下屆執政者可輕鬆規避法律程序？）

　So why does Shih Ming-deh again want to foray into political action? It seems anachronistic for him to raise a specter of revolution, when now finally the citizens can exercise their vote. Does he have a long-term vision of what he wants? Does he still stand for Taiwan's emergence as an internationally-recognized nation? Or has he abandoned the ideal that he sacrificed 25 years of his life for, too?

　那為何施明德突然要再次發動政治行動呢？對他而言，似乎是時代的錯誤，以致於在人人都有投票權的今天，他卻依然蠱惑人民革命。他到底是否思考他長遠追求的目標？他還主張台灣是國際公認的國家嗎？或者他早已背叛了他一生奉獻25年牢獄歲月的理想？