After the breakthrough in the 1980s, Taiwan's democratization developed in a largely peaceful manner in which institutional change has both failed to fully purge the roots of authoritarianism and has also often lagged behind the pace of social progress.

The first change of political power achieved by the Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan's second direct presidential election in March 2000 signified a historic break with nearly 55 years of KMT authoritarian or one - party rule and left legacies of strengthened Taiwan identity, defense of Taiwan's independent sovereignty, nationalization of the former KMT party-controlled military, steady progress in economic development and social justice, and increasing international visibility.

However, the DPP left office last year under a cloud of alleged corruptive practices, especially a set of scandals linked with former president Chen Shui-bian and his family, who was sentenced to life in prison by judges of the Taipei District Court for "corruption" over the use of NT$70 million in discretionary state affairs funds while ex-first lady Wu Shu-chen received a life sentence for accepting bribes and money laundering.

In an interview in this month's issue of "Wealth" Monthly, former presidential deputy secretary general Ma Yung-cheng, one of Chen's well-known "Boy Scout" aides and the recipient of a maximum 20 year sentence in connection to the presidential funds case, said Chen should have controlled the actions of Wu and other family members and stopped them from wiring hundreds of millions of New Taiwan dollars abroad.

Ma declared that the first family's misconduct was a grave violation of DPP internal rules and the party's values of political integrity and also created huge disappointment among the millions of Taiwan citizens who voted for Chen in March 2000 and March 2004. Ma, who insists that he did not pocket any funds, added that the saddest aspect is that most people will remember Chen and the DPP for "corruption" and allegedly jeopardizing Taiwan's foreign relations and overlook the many positive achievements tallied by the Chen administration.

The moral of the story

The tragic political trajectory of Ma Yung-cheng and other youthful followers of the former charismatic DPP leader offers important lessons for prospective young political activists as well as for the DPP, which is now trying to "re-polish" its founding values of "integrity, diligent governance and love of country."

Not surprisingly, the most important lesson is to correctly recall Lord Acton's adage that "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," which is often misleadingly misquoted as an absolute dictum that "power corrupts."

Ma and other young and talented activists spearheaded Chen's plurality victory in 2000, but lacked experience in governing the country when they first entered the Presidency and Executive Yuan and had no choice but to "learn by doing."

Unfortunately, the refusal of the KMT, which continued to control the national legislature, to approve numerous DPP-proposed anti-corruption or "sunshine" laws left unpurged the foundations of the "black and gold" money politics fostered by under KMT authoritarian rule left open many doors to temptation.

Insufficient awareness in the DPP of the need to tighten self-discipline in governance as well as human greed led some young DPP members to make mistakes which have resulted in convictions on various corruption charges, while the bizarre and inexcusable actions of the Chen family sealed the end of the political careers of Chen himself and many of his associates, including Ma Yung-cheng.

A worrying side-effect of the resulting trial by media and legal prosecution has been a drop in motivation of young and talented persons to enter politics, especially after the restored KMT government has used judicial terror to interrogate and harass many young DPP staffers whose only "crime" was to work for superiors now alleged to be involved in flexibly defined cases of "corruption."

Besides finding ways to help such young political workers restore their reputation for integrity and use their experience to help check and balance the new restored KMT government, the DPP leadership, along with all young progressive activists, should keep in mind the true meaning of Lord Acton's adage.

The late British statesman's warning does not imply that all exercise of political power leads to corruption but warns that political activism and constant vigilance is vitally needed to safeguard democratic societies from the tendency of power to corrupt and to block the emergence of absolute power.

Indeed, Taiwan's democracy now needs the passion and creativity of young democratic activists more than ever to prevent the very real possibility that the reconstructing the KMT party - state under President and now KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou will fulfill Lord Acton's true warning that "absolute power corrupts absolutely."