Source:
https://scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1903912/decline-and-fall-taiwans-kmt-sobering-lesson-hong-kong
Comment/ Opinion

Decline and fall of Taiwan’s KMT a sobering lesson for Hong Kong politicians

Alice Wu says frequent infighting and a lack of unity can only alienate voters, as the Kuomintang discovered in the presidential election

Taiwan's ruling KMT or Nationalist Party presidential candidate Eric Chu and his team members bow to supporters as he concedes defeat in the presidential election, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016, in Taipei, Taiwan. Pro-independence party candidate Tsai Ing-wen had a commanding lead in Taiwan's presidential election as votes were being counted late Saturday evening, and the candidate for the China-friendly Nationalist Party conceded a massive loss.(AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

When a political party has the luxury to operate with complacency and with plenty of time for nasty infighting, it loses the people. That, in a nutshell, is what happened to the Kuomintang in Taiwan; it was unable to pull itself together for the people it should serve.

No party is free from infighting, but the KMT managed to put it on public display, in the ugliest ways. The feud between then president Ma Ying-jeou and legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng simply went on for too long, and the issues were never resolved.