▲台北市議員王鴻薇7月初指控前新竹市長林志堅的碩士論文涉嫌抄襲。（圖／記者劉昌松攝）
● 方恩格（Ross Darrell Feingold）／前美國共和黨海外部亞太區主席
從7月開始，國民黨和民眾黨花費了非常多的時間，試圖證明民進黨桃園市長候選人林智堅的兩個碩士學位抄襲。最後結果是林智堅退出選舉。
雖然這對國民黨或民眾黨來說似乎是一個正面的結果，但對台灣政治來說卻是負面的結果。
一、台灣的政黨再次證明，他們有很多「跨區議員」在與選區無關的問題上花費了太多時間。這有助於他們受邀參加直播、電台和電視政論節目，但無助於討論如何提高地方政府績效。台北市議員真的想成為桃園市長候選人的碩士論文專家嗎？
二、在這個議題上花費的時間，正使得候選人沒有時間介紹他們的政見。例如，7、8月份國民黨桃園市長候選人張善政的代理人，大多是在談論林智堅的論文。張善政的政策願景受到的媒體關注要少得多。這就是張善政想要贏得選舉的策略嗎？
三、民進黨正在尋求報復，這是可以理解的，通過啟動「國家機器」來調查國民黨和民眾黨的政客是否在研究生論文或政府資助的項目中存在剽竊行為。國民黨和民眾黨是不是太天真了，以為民進黨不會報復？
四、無論是抄襲、酒駕或其他不良行為，各政黨往往未能充分審查其候選人。鑑於台灣面臨的其他危險，如此缺乏安全意識是危險的。為什麼各政黨在候選人審查方面如此糟糕？
五、11月的選舉雖然是地方選舉，但無可避免的，主軸也將是「抗中保台」。抄襲是否會繼續成為關注的焦點，轉移人們對其他更重要問題的注意力？
政治人物們應對抄襲議題閉嘴，轉而關注更重要的問題。但很遺憾地，這個議題很有可能到選舉前都不會宣布休戰，抄襲指控將繼續主導這次選舉。這可能會傷害一些政客，並有利於其他政客，但它對台灣人民有何好處，還有待觀察。
▲《鏡周刊》爆料《鏡週刊》日前指控民眾黨籍新竹市長參選人高虹安的論文抄襲嚴重，違反美國母校標準，高虹安反擊此為不實報導。（圖／記者屠惠剛攝）
英文版
By Ross Darrell Feingold
Former Asia Chairman, Republicans Abroad
Starting from July, the Chinese Nationalist Party and Taiwan People’s Party spent an extraordinary amount of time trying to prove Taoyuan City mayoral candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party Lin Chih-chien committed plagiarism in his two masters degrees.
The outcome for Lin Chih-chien is that he withdrew from the election.
While this might have seemed like a positive outcome for the Chinese Nationalist Party or the Taiwan People’s Party, the outcome for Taiwan’s politics is negative.
1. Taiwan’s political parties proved again they have many “trans-constituency councilors” who spend too much time on issues that are irrelevant to their constituents. This gets them invited to Internet live-stream, radio and television political talk shows, but doesn’t contribute to discussion about how to improve local government performance. Do Taipei City councilors really want to be known as the experts in the masters degree thesis of a Taoyuan City mayor candidate?
2. Time spent on this issue is time that is not spent by the candidates introducing their policy vision. For example, in July and August, Chinese Nationalist Party Taoyuan City mayor candidate Simon Chang’s proxies were mostly talking about Lin Chih-chien’s thesis. Simon Chang’s policy vision received far less media attention. Is this how Simon Chang wants to win the election?
3. The Democratic Progressive Party is understandably seeking revenge, by activating the “state machinery” to investigate whether Chinese Nationalist Party and Taiwan People’s Party politicians have committed plagiarism in graduate school thesis or government funded projects. Are the Chinese Nationalist Party and Taiwan People’s Party so naïve that they did not think the Democratic Progressive Party would seek revenge?
4. Whether it is plagiarism, drunk driving, or other types of bad behavior, Taiwan political parties often fail to sufficiently vet their candidates. Such a lack of a security culture is dangerous given other dangers that Taiwan faces. Why are Taiwan’s political parties so bad at candidate vetting?
5. Although the election in November is a local election, it is unavoidable that the election will also be about “oppose China, protect Taiwan”. Will plagiarism continue to be the focus of attention, and divert attention from more important issues?
This author hopes Taiwan’s politicians shut up about plagiarism, and instead focus on more important issues. Unfortunately, it is more likely that no truce will be declared, and plagiarism allegations will continue to dominate this election cycle. This might harm some politicians, and benefit other politicians, but how it benefits Taiwan’s people remains to be seen.
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我們想讓你知道…政治人物們應對抄襲議題閉嘴，轉而關注更重要的問題。