With blogs becoming more popular among the public, a number of Cabinet members, such as Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (
Tu and Cheng have also used their blogs to promote their departments' policies.
Not all Cabinet members, however, are eager to launch personal Web sites.
Unnecessary
"We would not encourage Cabinet members to establish blogs at this moment. At least, I do not think it is necessary for them to do so at this time," said Government Information Office Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (
When it comes to using the Web as an alternative way to express the ruling party's policies, Cheng appeared to be conservative.
"I had my own blog before I took the oath of office, but I think a blog is not necessarily related to politics. I think a blog is more like a space for personal expression, brainstorming, sharing and such," Cheng Wen-tsang told the Taipei Times.
He said it was his observation that most blogs, especially popular ones, had themes.
"The popular blogs are always the ones about travel, food or movies. It is a good tool for public news or discussions that concern the public," he said.
Cheng said neither the premier nor he had a blog at the moment, and were not planning to establish one in the near future.
While Su appears uninterested in launching a personal blog, former premier Frank Hsieh (
Hsieh, regarded by political observers as a potential Democratic Progressive Party hopeful for the 2008 presidential election, updates his blog periodically, and has been promoting it. He encourages everyone to leave him a message -- good or bad, at any time -- and says that he will try to reply to the messages in person as quickly as possible.
Hsieh stepped down from the premiership in January and then spent a few months in the US, and his regular blogging has served as one source for reporters wanting to track his latest thoughts and comments.
Election tactic
A local blogger known as Portony, who regularly gives speeches to teach Internet surfers how to set up blogs, said that blogs became popular in Taiwan around 2002.
However, he said that most Taiwanese politicians still feel that blogs are not a mode of formal expression -- especially for introducing their policies to the public.
"I noticed an interesting thing. Most politicians establish blogs only because they want to show voters that they are an up-to-the-minute kind of person with high-tech capabilities. However, after the election, most of their blogs are no longer updated," Portony said.
"Most of them are not taking it [setting up blogs] seriously," he said.
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