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FEATURE: Fortune-tellers offer advice to Hsieh and Ma

As the presidential campaign heats up, fortune-tellers are joining the fray by giving advice to the two candidates and predicting the election outcome.

The fortune-tellers -- from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and the US -- claim to have psychic power, but many Taiwanese think they are fakes.

The nation will hold its presidential poll on March 22 to elect a new leader to succeed President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who will step down on May 20 after having served two four-year terms.

The geomancers have made their own, mostly ambiguous, predictions about the chances of Democratic Progressive Party candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

Li Jianjun (李建軍), a Chinese fortune-teller who is on good terms with Taiwanese politicians, predicted that Ma has the upper hand but must watch out for his safety and health.

"Ma's left shoulder is lower than his right shoulder. And when he talks to the public, he is not looking them in the eye. These are bad signs for his health," Li said in Taipei on Dec. 13.

Li foresaw two potential disasters for Ma, one in December and one last month, but his predictions failed to materialize.

Hsieh has a bigger "posture" problem than Ma, Li warned, because when Hsieh addressed public rallies, he sticks his neck out, like a duck waiting to have its head chopped off.

Last month, Elizabeth Fotinopoulos, a self-proclaimed US psychic, visited Taiwan to promote the Chinese translation of her book, but made headlines with her comments on the presidential polls.

"There will be an attempt on Ma's life, probably with bullets," she told reporters.

Echoing her prediction, Shih Chi-ching (施寄青), a Taiwanese psychic, said she and four other seers saw bad people planning to harm Ma and at least 15 others close to him.

Hong Kong fortune-teller Li Kui-ming (李居明) also showed up in Taipei last month to promote his book on predictions for this year.

Regarding the presidential election, Li Kui-ming said Ma is not fit to be president but has a bigger chance of winning.

"His surname is Ma -- it will be a strenuous job for him because he is a horse. If I were him, I would not run for president," Li Kui-ming said.

Hsieh will also face obstacles in the election, but he can remove them by wearing a yellow tie and yellow clothes, Li Kui-ming said.

Both candidates refused to comment on the fortune-tellers' predictions.

Master Hsing Yun (星雲法師), a Buddhist leader, urged Taiwanese to discard superstition.

"Although there is fate, human beings can change their fate by doing good deeds," he wrote in the Buddhist daily Merit Time. "So people should free themselves from superstition and create a logical and democratic society."
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