The hard-fought race for positions on Taipei City Council wrapped up on Dec. 7 with many unexpected results.
The poll, which featured a record of number of candidates, saw the election of 27-year-old Lu Ying-ying (
Lu, the DPP's councilor-elect in Taipei's Shihlin and Peitou district, outshone her more senior candidates in a tight race.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
In an interview with the Taipei Times, Lu discussed how, despite her young age and being a freshman on the political scene, she overcame the odds by developing her campaign strategy to win over voters.
"Politics was strange to me before. I started to get in touch with it when I worked as an activity coordinator at President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) campaign office three years ago," Lu said.
"Through that job, I saw the passion and devotion of supporters at rallies, and that often made me wonder what they were crazy about," she said.
Lu said it struck her that she might be able to do something for them, motivating her to become more involved in politics.
Lu's campaign banners and flags featuring her image prompted the public to wonder just who this young woman with such a squeaky-clean image was.
"A smiling face is the only look you would see on my banners. Unlike other candidates, who appealed for the voters' sympathy with sad and poor looks, I insisted on bringing happiness, hope and warmth for people," Lu said.
The final series of Lu's campaign materials featured a Christmas message for voters.
"We gave candies and rode bicycles everyday to greet the public. I hoped everyone was in a happy mood in this election; that was the basic tone for my campaign strategy," Lu said.
Hard worker
Lacking an extensive political background, Lu relied on a hard-working attitude and a humble manner to succeed in the campaign.
"People often asked me who my father is, supposing that an influential family was why I could run in the election at such a young age," the councilor-elect said.
"My father is a taxi driver and my mother is a homemaker. I grew up in a simple family that has no pull with political circles," Lu said.
As a political freshman and a young member of the DPP, Lu said that she does not have any faction affiliation within the party as she does not see such an affiliation as necessary for gaining an edge.
"I visited all DPP legislators to gain their support. Among them, lawmaker Chen Sheng-hung (
"Chen and I sort of help each other. He voted for me in the party's primary and I voted for him in the party's election for the Central Standing Committee as I am one of the representatives of the DPP's National Assembly," Lu said.
"For me, to seek a faction link is simply a means to get a share of booty," Lu added.
Lu's husband, Hsu Chih-cheng (許志成), is a former legislator's assistant in charge of providing service for constituents. Lu said that her husband's role in providing service to the public deepened her determination to seek an official position to represent people's needs.
"It would be more difficult to serve the public without an official post. As a councilor, I'm entitled to speak for the people so that we can carry out our service both more effectively and efficiently," Lu said.
Lu was an English teacher before participating the councilor election. She owned a Sesame Street English school in Shihpai and devoted her time to children's education.
Teacher certification
After she assumes her post on Dec. 25, Lu plans to propose a mechanism to scrutinize and certify the qualifications of foreign English teachers, considering the current poor management of foreigners who teach English in Taipei.
"This the very first thing I want to do, to set up a training center for foreign English teachers. Foreign laborers have to undergo strict regulations before working in Taiwan, so should foreigners who wish to teach English in Taiwan," Lu said.
According to Lu, the training center would provide courses for foreigners to learn about children's psychology and teaching methods. Foreigners would have to submit documentation to the center for scrutiny.
Regulators would then issue certificates to qualified teachers, who would then be entitled to gain employment. The city government's Bureau of Education could also re-examine the validity of the certificate on a regular basis.
"Taiwanese English teachers have to take exams to get a teachers' certificate with slim chances of passing the exams. Why shouldn't foreign teachers do the same?" the councilor-elect said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods