December 12th is a significant day in the important history of our growing democracy of Taiwan. The prolific spawning of Taiwanese journalism and creative "web-friends" makes for a different news coverage than what was offered 30 years ago, when the Mei Li Dao magazine publishers and over 50 "out-of-Party" civilians were jailed and subjected to a military court hearing. Although news cameras were permitted during the proceedings, the coverage was minimal and biased, constucted to be ignored by the citizens of Taiwan.
The recent mayoral and provincial magistrates election results shook the foundations of the KMT, the dominating, and only, party in Taiwan from 1949 to 2000. The comparatively young Democratic Progressive Party won 46% of voters last week, up from their 38% voter-base in May 2008, with the KMT figures at 48% of votes.
The next round of highly scrutinised, and deeply internationally-influenced, peacable arenas in the daily progression of human rights in East Asia is already programmed. The protested impending visit of China's emissary Chen Yuin Ling on December 21 (the first since his visit in November 2008 was aptly complicated by Taiwan's citizen's rallies), the January 2010 legislators election, and 2010's Five Cities mayoral election are waiting for their Day.
