TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan is facing the risk of turning into a democracy in name only, harking back to practices from Martial Law and from Communist China, columnist Yang Sen-hong (楊憲宏) wrote for Fount Media.

With the help of modern technology, lies and rumors have made a comeback into Taiwan’s democratic election system, the veteran publicist wrote in his opinion piece. Over the past years, the most worthwhile evolution had been the prominence of free and fair election, with vote buying and ballot tampering almost disappeared, however, they now seem to be making a comeback, threatening to influence opinion polls.

Yang mentioned the example of President Chiang Kai-shek telling Hu Shi that “democracy is very good, but it should not interfere with dictatorship,” in other words, voting is acceptable, as long as the winner of the election is.

He added that the situation today was not the same, as critical opinion pieces like his still were allowed to appear in the media, but he nevertheless warned that a gradual move toward formal democracy was possible.

Democracy would not be destroyed in one go, but if it was “broken one brick at a time,” it would still be harmed, according to Yang.

As the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) tried to postpone its primary process for the selection of a presidential candidate, its secretary general, Lo Wen-jia (羅文嘉), voiced criticism. According to Yang, while his words might not have registered much effect, and in the end they would be buried by “high-volume sounds” from higher authority, it was still worthwhile for him to have uttered those words.

To paraphrase the title of the recent successful Taiwanese television series “The World Between Us (我們與惡的距離),” Lo’s comments narrowed the gap between the DPP and the good and will still be noted by history, Yang said.