The Ministry of Economic Affairs has invited Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) to be its latest spokesman for the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) that the government is eager to sign with Beijing.
Arguing that Yen is someone who “uses ordinary language to communicate with ordinary people,” Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said Yen was suitable for the task as the ministry had been criticized in the past for using “complicated” language to promote the planned pact. Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) also lauded Yen as “having a local air (本土味),” suggesting TV appearances and other settings designed to promote the pact will speak volumes and have traction with the government’s target audience.
Entertainers Chu Ko Liang (豬哥亮) and Pai Ping-ping (白冰冰) — both also known for their celebrity appeal — are reportedly also being lined up to promote the ECFA.
Yen, a convicted criminal with a large grassroots support base, is known for his affability, and there’s no doubt he would speak the language of the “ordinary person” while chewing betel nut and mingling with the public.
Underneath the praise heaped on him by government officials, however, is a disturbing message: If you support an ECFA, you will graduate from “local” to “high-class.”
It appears the government has continued with the illusion that people opposed to an ECFA are those with little education or low social status.
This disturbing attitude brings back the unpleasant memory of two comic strip characters that the ministry created last year that were both offensive and derogatory.
This government just never learns. Or could it be that it is so arrogant that it is unaware its actions fuel perceptions of social superiority?
Many will recall the furor over the comic strip introduced in July to promote an ECFA. The cartoon featured two stereotypical characters, Yi-ge (一哥), a middle-aged ethnic Taiwanese man who speaks “Taiwanese Mandarin” and opposes the ECFA, and Fa-sao (發嫂), a sharp-minded Hakka career woman with a dashing educational background who supports the deal.
Yen resembles the profile of the notorious Yi-ge, even down to his ruddy appearance. It may be just a coincidence, or it could be that Yen is just a repackaged Yi-ge; either way, the government has again demonstrated that it is missing the point: What, after all, is the substance of an ECFA?
A good product will sell itself. Likewise, a product that lacks substance won’t secure support and endorsement, no matter who vouches for it.
The problem lies not in the lack of a spokesperson to promote the ECFA, but in the fact that no one knows what it contains.
If the government pays lip service to this problem and remains secretive on the pact’s contents, refusing to inform anyone on what it contains before it is signed, then public unease will only increase.
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