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Hsieh, Ma call a ceasefire during New Year holiday

The presidential campaign offices of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said they would refrain from attacking each other during the Lunar New Year holiday.

DPP presidential hopeful Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) campaign manager Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said they would stop running ads criticizing Hsieh's rival, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), during the New Year break.

He also called on Ma's camp to commit to pursuing a free and fair election.

Earlier yesterday, Hsieh and his wife, Yu Fang-chih (游芳枝), visited his birthplace in Taipei City's Datong District (大同) and greeted shoppers at Dihua Street's New Year bazaar and handed out hongbao (紅包), or red envelopes.

Meanwhile, Ma visited Xingtian Temple (行天宮) in Taipei yesterday morning and also gave out red envelopes.

Ma said the Lunar New Year was a time for family reunions.

It is also a time for saying kind words and doing good deeds, he said.

Later last night, both Hsieh and Ma visited Dhama Drum Mountain (法鼓山), a major Buddhist study center in the country. They rang the temple bell and expressed their hope for happiness, prosperity and peace of mind for all Taiwanese.

Presidential Office Secretary-General Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), who doubles as Hsieh's campaign director, said Hsieh would visit several temples during the holiday.

Hsieh would visit Xingtian Temple today, as well as other temples in Sindian City (新店), Keelung City and Gongliao (貢寮) in Taipei County.

His running mate, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), would hand out red envelopes in Pingtung City.

In related news, the Hsieh camp yesterday introduced two promotion videos featuring Hsieh and Su offering heartfelt messages in Mandarin, Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese) and Hakka. They thanked all parents for their hard work over the past year and wished them a prosperous and a happy new year.

Yeh said the theme of the promotion videos is peace and happiness as the two candidates hoped to see a presidential election that is fair and untarnished by negative campaigning.
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