In just two days, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) obdurate determination to implement the Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音) system as the city's standard for Romanization -- as quickly as possible and without central government approval if necessary -- has melted into a willingness to defer to the central government and to await the latter's decision.
On Friday, Ma said at a media address that the city would go ahead with Hanyu Pinyin regardless of the central government's view.
"The city simply cannot wait any longer," he said.
If the central government eventually opts for the alternative Tongyong Pinyin (
He said he was willing to wait for one more month for the central government's final decision.
In response, Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (
"I don't see any immediate necessity to decide the matter right away, although I personally favor Hanyu Pinyin," Tzeng said. "What matters here should be whether the decision is well thought out and not hurried."
But yesterday, after a chat with Tzeng at a city-sponsored event at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Ma said that he was willing to wait as long as it took for the central government to decide.
"The city is willing to wait for the central government's final decision under the premise that both the Ministry of Education and the Cabinet will expedite the review process," Ma said.
He said that he and Tzeng, one of the guests at the event, had seen eye to eye on many issues during a brief talk.
"Both of us realized that it's important to internationalize the city and the nation. We also agreed that we desperately need to be able to `walk off of this small island' and connect with the international world," he said.
Although the city originally planned to overhaul street signs for 400 of the city's 600 roads and streets using Hanyu Pinyin by the end of the year, the plan now appears likely to be delayed. .
"I'm anxious to know the result myself. I hope we'll be able to solve the problem during the summer," Tzeng said.
Taipei City Councilor Chou Po-ya (
"He's simply made a mountain out of a molehill by politicizing an originally simple issue," he said. "There are better ways to tackle the problem, but he decided to challenge the central government. His inconsistency has definitely had a negative impact upon his image."
Chou added that Ma had tried to expose what he sees as the incompetence of the central government and how little he believes it cares about the development of Taipei.
New Party Councilor Chin Li-fang (秦儷舫), however, disagreed.
"I don't think the decision has much to do with politics or competing with the central government. I think Ma made the right decision because he not only has great respect for the central government, but is also sending out the message that the city has to make a decision on its own when the central government cannot make up its mind," she said.
RSS