3/19    This has got to be tearing Taiwan apart right now.  Anyone with
        relatives/friends/actual presence there like to comment?
        \_ I am in TW right now.  Really think DPP rigged the election.
           Numerous of things, such as disallowing police and military
           to vote really made a difference this time.  DPP fully aware
           that police / military tend to be pro KMT, and using assassination
           as an excuse to put them in high alert is a relatively reasonable
           as an excuse to put them in high alert. It's a relatively reasonable
           reason to disallowing them to vote.  The assassination attempt,
           which many believed is being staged by DPP, really helped in
           galvanizing the swing voters to vote DPP at last minute.
           Having said that, I don't think pan-KMT fraction can do anything
           about this.  I, for one, now leaning toward CCP instead.
           \_ Many people believe that Bush paid the Israeli secret service
              to blow up the towers in NY, too.  Just because many people are
              stupid doesn't mean they're right.
        \_ My dad said Chen placed 300000 army and police on high alert after
           the "assassination" attempt on him, so these 300000 people
           couldn't vote.  DPP "won" by 30000, one tenth of 300000.
           \_ just in case someone wonders, the above numbers were not typos.
              The army and police who were supposed to vote in special voting
              places but were mobilized just on the election day and didn't
              get any chance to vote numbered at least ten times the margin of
              of "victory" claimed to be won by Chen.  There are numerous irreg
              in the vote counting process, including massive selective
        \_ The assassination stunt Chen pulled is kind of like the President
           of the United States using his presidential powers to stage an
           assassination attempt by Al Queda in a last minute bid to
           win the election.
           \_ Look, I'm not disputing whether the assassination attempt was
              staged or not.  I'm looking for insight from people who are
              there.  Do you know anyone who's there right now? Then ask
              them what they think is going on and post it.
              labelling of votes against Chen as beling invalid.  Frankly, I
              don't like Lien, because he seems like a indifferent wimp.  What
              worries me is having someone who is capable of a treachery of
              this magnitude as the leader of a still young democracy.
              \_ Too true, once we kill off the splittists, the motherland will
                 be reunited and we can execute or put in mental hospitals the
                 splittists who remain.
                 \_ well, even CCP have not been saying things like that, for
                    many year.  Almost no people on taiwan want immediate
                    reunification, including those against Chen and DPP.  Even
                    many people on the mainland does not think unification is
                    a viable idea now, including all of the leadership, not the
                    least because of the divergent political system.  They
                    just want to maintain the status quo, perhaps indefinitely.
                    The DPP and Chen, however, want to severe any hope and good
                    will between Taiwan and the mainland.  They want to write
                    textbooks that claim "Taiwanese" (Chinese immigrated there
                    two centuries earlier, not the minoriity aborigines) as
                    a different and superior race and glorify Japanese's role
                    in WWII.  To achieve the former, they used all the media
                    they control to forment hatred against and demonize all
                    people on the mainland as well as Taiwanese who disagree
                    with their agenda.  When the last time there was a solar
                    storm disrupting satelite communication, they put out
                    "news" that claim Beijing is send death ray against their
                    with their agenda.  Example: I remember when there was a
                    solar storm disrupting satelite communication, they put out
                    "news" that claim Beijing sent death ray against
                    Beijing.
                    satelite.  During SARS, they first claimed Taiwanese are
                    immune from it during to their superiority.  When it broke
                    out there too, they claim it was a biological attack from
                    Beijing.  You don't hear this on the western media because
                    they are clever enough to realize it is not PC so they
                    do not release it in English, and (at least the american)
                    media never picks it up, intentionally or not.
                    \_ The mainland leadership doesn't want reunification?
                       Excuse me, but that's complete bullshit.  I won't
                       actually call you a liar.  They've been putting out
                       pro-unification noise since day one.  They're building
                       up military force on the mainland side of the water for
                       years and continue to do so.  They have stated outright
                       that if they don't reunify at some unspecified but
                       near-future date that the mainland *will invade* to
                       make it happen.  I don't know about the propaganda
                       coming out of Taiwan but the mainland makes their own
                       positions very public and very clear.
              \_ summary:
                 The margin which DPP won by: < 30k  (or 0.23%)
                 The number of military/police personel which are not given
                       the chance to vote: 300k
                 The number of votes which counted as "invalid" due to
                 "more stringent validation process:" 330k
                 The number of ballots casted:  13 million
                 \_ "We didn't like the results so let's have a do-over!"