Politics spelled ‘nine’
Politics in Taiwan are filled with the number nine, which can be lucky or unlucky.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), whose given name ends with jeou (“nine”), has approval ratings as low as 9 percent. He has promoted the so-called “1992 consensus” for more than seven years, and is still promoting it (although by definition, a “consensus” that has failed to reach a consensus after years of controversy is not a consensus).
The telephone number 1999 for Taipei was reportedly adopted by former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) to please Ma since “1999” sounds like “ying-jeou forever” in Mandarin.
This is even stronger than the slogan: “Long live President Chiang [Kai-shek (蔣介石)]”
Last year, on Nov. 29, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) suffered dramatic losses in the nationwide nine-in-one elections. This was mainly due to the Sunflower movement the previous March and the effect of Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) as an independent Taipei mayoral candidate.
Ma had to resign as chairman of the KMT due to the party’s defeat in the polls.
TV political commentator Hu Chung-hsin (胡忠信) says that the KMT has illegal assets worth NT$135 billion (US$4.41 billion) — note: 1+3+5=9 — and has asked the KMT to divest itself of these assets. The KMT then sued Hu. There will be 100 lawyers to defend him.
Several major infrastructural projects initiated by Ma and Hau when they were mayor are being investigated for possible graft with developers.
For the Taipei Dome project, then-mayor Ma and the developer had a secret meeting on Sept. 20, 2004 — the ninth month — and the royalties to be paid to the Taipei City Government were waived.
Ma has complained of “political persecution” against him.
Another project that is under suspicion is called Jiaujeou (“crossing nine”) Transfer Station (交九轉運站).
In 2013, Ma and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) had the so-called September political strife — again, ninth month — and this has continued even to today as an issue in the nomination of the KMT’s presidential candidate.
On Sept. 21, 1999, Taiwan was shaken by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake, now known as the “921 Earthquake.”
Chinese President Xi (10–1=9) Jinping (習近平) has warned that if he does not like the 2016 (2+0+1+6=9) election results, Taiwanese will sense shakings from China. He is kinder than the “ground cow” that quakes the Earth without warning.
Charles Hong
Columbus, Ohio
Only Ma to blame
Just five hours after Wang Jin-pyng, whose way has been blocked by Ma Ying-jeou, announced his withdrawal from the KMT’s primary process for next year’s presidential election, Ma was interviewed by the Chinese-language Apple Daily (蘋果日報), in which he angrily said that KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) should shoulder the responsibility of standing for election.
However, as everyone clearly remembers, last year Chu was planning to resign from his post as New Taipei City mayor to prepare to run for president. Ma, as selfish as ever, was afraid that appointing a “successor” so early would turn him into a lame-duck president before his time, so he insisted on Chu standing for a second term as New Taipei City mayor in the elections in November last year.
The person now wanting Chu to stand for president and the one who prevented him from doing so are one and the same.
Chu is clearly tired of being manipulated, so on Saturday, after the deadline for collecting an application form for KMT primaries had passed, Chu played his bottom card by announcing, contrary to Ma’s expectations, that he would not stand for election.
Chu pledged to work hard to support the KMT’s candidate, whoever that may be, and to resign from as KMT chairman if the party loses the election.
Chu and Wang are calling for the KMT to stand united.
Most people understand the implications. The key factor behind the disunity that has brought the KMT close to the point of disintegration is none other than Ma, a leader who has been spoiled since childhood, turning him into an arrogant narcissist whose style of government leans toward that of an authoritarian dictator.
Chang Shih-hsien
Taoyuan
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