Welelm Taolin

The Honourable Welelm Taolin
Domestic Minister of Vyvland
In office 30 April 1998 – 3 June 2002
Preceded by	Lisbef Goydkoiv
Succeeded by	Vredurd Dengkus
Finance Minister of Vyvland
In office 4 November 1994 – 3 November 1996
Preceded by	Patrik Voivbeem-Smid
Succeeded by	Eba Samwels
Welfare and Pensions Minister
In office 25 June 1989 – 3 March 1990
Preceded by	Mafjas Skenterby
Succeeded by	Syneva Knekt
Justice Minister
In office 3 March 1990 – 23 December 1993
Preceded by	Piter Apelbeem
Succeeded by	Swoifan Swurt
President of the Christian Democratic and Conservative Party
In office 8 June 1994 – 3 December 2004
Preceded by	Eedmund Frigs
Succeeded by	Lurs Anterbiden (acting)
Member of Parliament for Kengs
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 June 1984
Personal details
Born	200px (1943-11-16) November 16, 1943 Tompsold, Welland, South Vyvland
Died	200px
Resting place	200px
Nationality	Vyvlander
Political party	Christian Democratic and Conservative Party (to 2004) Conservative Party (since 2004)
Spouse	Velepa Biydmaan
Parent	200px
Alma mater	University of Stiven

Welelm Taolin (pronounced /weːləm tɑʊlin/) is a Vyvlander Conservative (formerly KDC) politician. He has had a long history in the National Commission, having been the country's Domestic Minister, Finance Minister, Minister of Welfare and Labour, and Minister of Justice, in addition to being the Party President and holding a number of shadow cabinet jobs. In 2007, de Kronikel referred to him as "the most unfortunate man in Vyvlander politics" due to his history of high-ranking office without ever having led his party or become Prime Minister. Taolin is of Kannei Namorese origin on his father's side.

During his ten-year tenure as Party President, the position responsible for party strategy, Taolin led the Christian Democratic and Conservative Party to wins in four of the five general elections it contested. He is also well-known for his controversial 1996 budget, in which he proposed tax cuts despite the government running a deficit; this broke up the governing coalition and prompted the 1996 general election, which the party lost.

Early life

Welelm was born to a Vyvlander mother, Eva, and a Namorese father, Kiang, in 1943. He hails from the town of Tompsold far southwest of Welland province, where his father owned a butcher's shop. His mother became chastised by the local community for her marrying a man of Namorese ancestry, and thus Welelm became isolated from many of the other children in his area. As a Namorese origin child in South Vyvland, he found it impossible to be accepted by a higher education institution, and so moved to North Vyvland on a scholarship to the University of Stiven aged 20.

Political career

Taolin was elected as a wetaan for the Seerm town of Kengs, a relatively safe KDC seat, in 1984, increasing his share of the vote in the following 1986 election. In 1989, Taolin was appointed as the Welfare and Pensions Minister under the premiership of Denis Eeris, and then as Justie Minister under Eeris's 1990 cabinet reshuffle. When Eeris left government, Taolin had become a senior figure in his party and ran for Party President in 1984, in an election where he won a majority of all KDC members' votes in the first round.

When KDC returned to office in 1984, Taolin was appointed as Finance Minister by Prime Minister Anhelm Ferog. Taolin's most notable event as Finance Minister is his 1996 budget, in which massive tax cuts and a 'reorganising of the state as we know it' was proposed, despite the government running a deficit and being a grand coalition of both the left and right. The budget proved much too radical for the Socialist coalition partners and thus was a key cause of the downfall of the government at the time. After the 1996 general election, Taolin lost his job as Finance Minister, although remained one of the most influential figures in the Christian Democratic and Conservative Party. Thus, Taolin was appointed as Domestic Minister under Rikard Fegaad, the second-most senior post in the cabinet after the Prime Minister. Upon the Liberal entry into Fegaad's governing coalition in 2002, Taolin was moved to being Minister of Welfare and Labour. Taolin resigned as Party President in 2004 following a controversial rebranding and renaming of his party which he had presided over.

Identity

Taolin is of mixed Vyvlander-Kannei Namorese ethnic origin, with his father being the child of Namorese immigrant parents who moved to Vyvland following the Double Fourth Revolution in 1910. He has experienced prejudice common against Namorese people, especially in the former South; some historians and commentators have claimed that this prejudice is why he was never able to become leader of his party or Prime Minister, but he refutes this, stating that "I refuse to believe there is a glass ceiling for anyone in Vyvland".

"I do consider myself to be both Vyvlander and Namorese. Of course, my father is Namorese so that's my ethnic identity...but being Vyvlander is much more than that - it's my culture, my main language, my citizenship, the place where I was born and grew up. And most importantly, it's my home. So I'm more Vyvlander than Namorese."

— Welelm Taolin in 2009

As Finance Minister after the 1996 Namorese bombing of Syfmion, Taolin described himself as 'troubled' over questions of identity, and on more than one occasion openly denounced the acts of the Namorese Liberation Air Force.