Opposition lawmakers yesterday accused Ma Yi-nan (馬以南), President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) sister, of receiving “special perks” and regarding herself as a “relative of the emperor” after she was observed boarding a personal vehicle on an airport tarmac.
Arriving at Songshan Airport on a Mandarin Airlines flight from Taitung County at about 8pm on Sunday, Ma Yi-nan and her entourage were immediately greeted by a sports utility vehicle that drove right up to the aircraft, said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lai Kun-cheng (賴坤成), who added that he was seated behind Ma’s sister during the flight.
“All the other passengers had to take the shuttle bus ... looking at her take the exclusive vehicle made everyone very jealous,” Lai said on a Facebook posting an hour after the incident.
Saying she was unclear on the issue, Ma Yi-nan, the eldest of the president’s three sisters, told the Central News Agency through an intermediary on Sunday night that she had not made any special requests with the airline. After the plane landed, airline staff ushered her to the waiting car, she said.
“She wasn’t clear on what the airline had prepared, but will carefully ensure that such an incident will not happen again in the future,” the report said.
Mandarin Airlines said in a statement that the vehicle was prepared in response to -concerns that the shuttle bus was overcrowded.
Describing Ma Yi-nan as a “VIP,” Mandarin Airlines public relations director Hsu Cheng-chuan (徐正權) said it was to ensure that Ma’s sister “wouldn’t have to wait with the other passengers.”
“[We] wanted to let the VIP leave quickly ... it doesn’t count as a special perk,” Hsu said in a TV interview.
Not satisfied with the explanation, DPP lawmakers called on the president to personally respond to the accusations and said he needed to apologize.
Not even government ministers received the courtesy offered to Ma Yi-nan, DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-lang (蔡煌瑯) said.
“Ma Yi-nan basically thinks this country is her personal house ... and regards herself as a relative of the emperor. This case of [abusing] her own authority will leave a negative impression on society,” Tsai said in the legislature.
Media reports said Ma Yi-nan was on Mandarin Airlines flight AE394 with her husband and assistants, returning from Taitung County, where she opened a swimming competition for Aboriginal children.
While the event started at 8:15am, the opening ceremony was postponed until 2:45pm, halfway through the competition, which some sources claimed was because Ma Yi-nan was busy stumping for a local Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate earlier in the day.
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