Has anyone else noticed how, since becoming president, Marky Mark Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has slowly turned into a recluse, or what we in Taiwan call a zhainan (宅男)?
With the exception of his recent campaigning trips ahead of next month’s elections, Ma very rarely ventures outside of the presidential palace these days, and not even into the gardens. Then again, he’s not exactly going to be holding any backyard swingers parties now that residents of the I Pin building (一品苑) have a bird’s eye view.
All this, you’ll remember, is quite a contrast to the 2007 pre-election Ma, as back then it seemed you couldn’t walk past a paddy field in Yunlin or an orchard in Taitung without bumping into straw-hat clad “Happy Farmer” Ma and his long-stay flunkies.
What is behind this strange transformation, I hear you ask?
Well, since doing research for the article on Happy Farm the other week I freely, if nervously, admit I’ve become hooked on social networking sites. Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, Plurk … I’m on them all.
In fact, I’m writing this week’s column from my apartment as I haven’t been out of the house for nigh on three weeks. Instead, I’ve been stuck indoors tweeting with the “Twitterati” while sustaining my substantial girth on Ah Q instant noodles (US ground beef flavor) and Yakult yogurt drinks (only the authentic stuff though, mind you; none of those imitation, additive-laced, chemical cocktails you get free with a NT$50 biandang for me).
Anyway, the point of all this is that in between my increasingly infrequent and extremely painful trips to the little boys’ room I think I may have stumbled across the reason behind Ma’s hermitic behavior. It seems that Ma, like myself and “Dr-No-Campaign” Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), has become a fully fledged Webmong.
Best of all, I believe I’ve discovered El Presidente’s very own Twitter feed, something which, if it turns out to be the real deal, could shed rare sunlight on the murky goings-on within the central government.
Don’t believe me? Well, take a look at some of these conversations and even the most skeptical of you will have to admit the comments are just too coincidental to pass off as fake. (I presume Ma chose to Twitter in English instead of Plurking in Chinese to avoid being rumbled by alert bentu (本土) Web users. The latest in a series of monumental presidential miscalculations.)
For example, check out this series of tweets that took place over a week beginning on Oct. 23, one day before the announcement of a relaxation on restrictions on US beef imports.
Campusspook is clearly Ma’s Twitter name, while I’m guessing Cuchicoo is the handle of National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起).
(Johnny’s Twitter novice note: Using the @ symbol means you are addressing a message directly to another user.)
Campusspook: Yes! @Cuchicoo deserves pat on the back. Finally satisfied Uncle S’ demands on his rancid meat. T-bones all round! Proles will be psyched.
Campusspook: What’s all the fuss about? As “Grease stain” said, it’s no more dangerous than riding the old Kymco.
Campusspook: @AITBill. Many apologies. Didn’t realize you were a fellow tweeter. It’s just a pet name, you understand. No offense. J
Campusspook: @Cuchicoo. Keep calm. Won’t let you take fall for this. I’ll find a “healthier” scapegoat, if you know what I mean.
Or what about this sequence following news that a Taitung restaurateur tried unsuccessfully to hawk Ma’s leftover chicken bones on an Internet auction site?
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