Oil scandal shatters pride
In the old days, a mom always advised her kids to concentrate while eating, as “taking a meal is as important as a king.”
Yes, food is an innate need. Everyone needs it three times a day. In a family, whoever cooks will plan the meals and what to buy. Now, many do not know what to buy — food shopping is a headache.
Taiwan has earned a good reputation for its food, known as “Taiwanese snacks.” Even if you have emigrated overseas, you are still proud of sharing it with new friends.
However, now our pride and reputation has been destroyed since rancid oil was discovered on Sept. 4.
Four years ago when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) campaigned for reelection, he extolled Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團), the firm at the center of the latest cooking oil scandal, as a remarkable example of a company that had returned to Taiwan with a huge investment to promote his Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement policy, calling it a “salmon run.” Ma praised Ting Hsin as a tonic, not poison, for the nation. What kind of backdoor operation is this?
The series of toxic oil scandals forced former minister of health and welfare Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) to resign. Chiu, Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) all announced that there are further unexposed food safety problems. The government warns us of the toxic oil, but does not stop it. Do you agree?
Ma held a high-level national security meeting to discuss the food security issues on Oct. 13 and asked people to join him in a boycott of Ting Hsin. What a joke. When he attempted to oust Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and jailed former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), he did not ask us. Now he asks us to join him in a boycott of Ting Hsin, but is not willing to exercise police power. What kind of government is this?
Now, Namchow Chemical Industrial Co has also become involved. We really do not know how many more unexposed problems there are in the market. How long will we have to suffer this insecurity?
In order for Taiwanese to be able to eat safely, we need to stop this outrageous oil scandal.
As Ma does not know how to serve the nation, it is time for him to step down. He is incompetent, but we must not be helpless. Let us show him the meaning of people power in the upcoming election.
John Hsieh
Hayward, California
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