The Gangster in Taiwanese Society, 1991-2006
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The London School of Economics and Political Science University of London Inventing the Public Enemy: The Gangster in Taiwanese Society, 1991-2006 Percival Santos Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2007 Candidate’s Declaration I declare that this thesis is the product of my own original research. Percival Santos ii Abstract Much of the literature has framed the study of Taiwanese politics in terms of the persistent existence of certain informal institutions like factional politics, patron-clientism, heijin (political corruption), and finally, heidao (gangsters). These institutions are perceived to be more characteristic of a third world country, and inappropriate to Taiwan, given it’s advanced economy and democratic system. This thesis looks at the contemporary phenomenon of heidao. Heidao, in the strict sense of the word, are a new class of wealthy and powerful people from the countryside who have accumulated their wealth through dubious means and then run for political office. The thesis relies primarily on ethnographic research and it focuses on the life histories of a few rural politicians who are reputed to be heidao, namely Legislator Yen Ching-piao of Shalu Town, and the Jen brothers from Dajia Town, Taichung County. This thesis borrows the ‘big man’ or ‘man of prowess’ model from the traditional political culture of Southeast Asia. It compares the Taiwanese heidao with the Thai chaopo (godfather), rural politicians from Taiwan and Thailand. I argue two things. First, that contemporary anxiety in Taiwan about heidao represents a clash between two incompatible notions of politics and governance. The dominant notion involves contemporary western ideas of politics based on the ideal of good governance, transparency, integrity, and honesty, which predominate in the urban areas. The other involves traditional notions of power and politics based on the ideal of a benign and paternalistic patron which is prevalent in the rural areas. Second, scholarly literature portrays Taiwanese politics as anomalous. This is a result of using idealized categories of politics and governance that are characteristic of a western liberal democracy. The anomaly disappears when we look at the country within the broader context of the traditional political culture of Southeast Asia. Heidao are really Southeast Asian big men. iii Table of Contents Candidate’s Declaration ii Abstract iii Acknowledgements 6 List of Figures 7 List of Photographs 8 Chapter One: ___________________________________________________________________ 9 Introduction____________________________________________________________________ 9 The literature on Taiwan studies ______________________________________________________ 12 The Taiwanese gangster state _________________________________________________________ 16 The Thai gangster state ______________________________________________________________ 23 Contested legitimacy ________________________________________________________________ 25 Southeast Asian political culture_______________________________________________________ 30 A history of rural leadership __________________________________________________________ 37 The biography of Yen Ching-piao______________________________________________________ 43 Thesis outline ______________________________________________________________________ 51 Methodology _______________________________________________________________________ 53 Chapter Two:__________________________________________________________________ 56 Temples and the New Rural Elite__________________________________________________ 56 The big men of Dajia ________________________________________________________________ 70 ‘Gangsters’ and temples______________________________________________________________ 77 Jenlangong_______________________________________________________________________________ 77 Purple Cloud Temple _______________________________________________________________________ 81 Temples, ‘face’, and merit ____________________________________________________________ 84 Narratives of ‘gangsters running temples’_______________________________________________ 93 Conclusion_________________________________________________________________________ 97 Chapter Three: ________________________________________________________________ 99 Taiwan is not a Real Democracy __________________________________________________ 99 Democracy is not mature ____________________________________________________________ 105 Politicians are not gentlemen_________________________________________________________ 106 Voters lack political literacy _________________________________________________________ 113 Middle-class disappointment_________________________________________________________ 117 The three types of politicians_________________________________________________________ 120 Conclusion________________________________________________________________________ 128 4 Chapter Four: ________________________________________________________________ 130 Narratives of Corruption in Taiwan_______________________________________________ 130 The ‘gangster’ in the media __________________________________________________________ 137 The ‘gangster’ in film_______________________________________________________________ 146 These narratives are new ____________________________________________________________ 152 Instilling new attitudes______________________________________________________________ 156 The westernizing project ____________________________________________________________ 162 Conclusion________________________________________________________________________ 167 Chapter Five:_________________________________________________________________ 168 The Man of Prowess ___________________________________________________________ 168 Complex, multi-faceted roles_________________________________________________________ 170 Bandit and hero ___________________________________________________________________ 172 Informal broker and kingmaker______________________________________________________ 173 Mobilizer of masses and giver of feasts ________________________________________________ 175 Fixer and mediator_________________________________________________________________ 178 The jiaotou was an informal leader____________________________________________________ 180 The big man in Southeast Asia _______________________________________________________ 185 Conclusion________________________________________________________________________ 188 Chapter Six:__________________________________________________________________ 190 The Rural Politician ___________________________________________________________ 190 Leaders act like patrons_____________________________________________________________ 195 Helping the car accident victim ______________________________________________________________ 195 Mediating neighbours’ and spousal disputes ____________________________________________________ 196 Dealing with the bureaucracy _______________________________________________________________ 197 Resorting to informal institutions _____________________________________________________ 199 Forgiving past mistakes _____________________________________________________________ 201 Official stories about corruption______________________________________________________ 204 Grassroots appeal __________________________________________________________________ 207 Rural big man _____________________________________________________________________ 216 Conclusion________________________________________________________________________ 218 Chapter Seven: _______________________________________________________________ 219 Conclusion___________________________________________________________________ 219 Bibliography _________________________________________________________________ 228 5 Acknowledgements I am indebted to many people whose help and collaboration have been instrumental to the successful completion of this thesis. First of all, I wish to thank my friends in Taiwan who acted as my gracious hosts during the three years I spent there doing fieldwork. I have made many lasting friendships there and I look forward to thanking them in person when I next travel to Taiwan. I would especially like to thank Alex Pevzner, Lee Lin, Betty, Mark Findler, and Susan Huang. I am grateful to the Center for Chinese Studies (Hanxueyanjiuzhongxin), National Central Library, Taipei, for their generous grant. I would also like to thank the Institute of Ethnology (Minzusuo), Academia Sinica, Taipei, for granting me affiliate student status which made getting and renewing visas so convenient, as well as giving me a dedicated desk in a shared office in which to work. I would also like to mention my colleagues at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at Tunghai University, Taichung, where I was a part-time faculty member. I give my deepest thanks to James Sims, Brendan Ryan, Nanyu Chen, Jung- han Chen, Olivia Chang, Betty Liao and Joyce Tsou. I thank my supervisors Charles Stafford and Stefan Feuchtwang for their support and friendship. They have been very helpful in giving a high degree of academic rigour to my ideas. Lastly I would like to thank my mother for her support and patience through all these years. 6 List of Figures Figure 1: Percentage of ‘gangsters’ among elected officials 11 Figure 2: Typology of Taiwanese politicians 125 Figure 3: Taiwan’s ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index 131 Figure 4: Criminalization of behaviours characteristic