President-elect Chen Shui-bian (
Ma seems to be pretty depressed about Chen's win in the presidential election even though Chen lost the Taipei City mayor's office to Ma. Now Ma is caught in a dilemma over whether or not he should face Chen's picture as the nation's leader in his office everyday.
When asked about whether to hang a picture of his former competitor in his office, Ma said, "I prefer to hang my wife's picture and will still hang a picture of Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) after the inauguration of the new president." A sour response like this can be dismissed as a kind of understandable joke or emotional remark given that Ma and Chen come from opposite sides of the political tracks. But the Bureau of Civil Affairs certainly made a mountain out of a molehill in their statement on the issue.
National flag, anthem, and the president's picture are all national symbols and artificial political totems. Singing the anthem and hanging the national flag do not necessarily reflect people's patriotism to the country; rather, how much we respect the country when we salute a national flag and how supporting we really are to our president when we hang his picture in our office varies from person to person. Therefore, whether to hang a portrait of the new president is actually not a big deal.
It is an undeniable fact that the DPP did not recognize political totems in the past; such as the national flag, for example. But things have completely changed since the former-opposition party now has nothing to oppose.
Five years ago, after Chen won the election for Taipei mayor, he hung a picture of Lee in his office out of respect for the national leader. The embarrassing question facing Ma now that Chen is becoming the new president on May 20 is how much longer he should hold onto Lee's portrait after Chen's inaugu-ration. And if hanging Lee's picture shows his respect for the nation's leader, how can he justify refusing to hang a picture of the new president after Chen's inauguration?
It is true that at present there is no law which requires Ma to see Chen hanging on his office wall. But making one wouldn't be that difficult. Ma's complex is the key factor in this event, however, and whether to hang a picture of Chen should be determined by his attitude -- not the law.
Ho Jung-hsing is chief of the city desk at the Liberty Times
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