Wed, Aug 05, 2009 page3

• Ailing Siew holds meeting

  NO REST FOR VINCENT The vice president apologized to a delegation from the World Hakka Association for being under the weather, the result of surgery and a cold

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  Despite health problems, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) met members of the World Hakka Association yesterday.

  The Presidential Office later denied speculation that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was deliberately making things difficult for Siew or that he had declined to meet association members.

  Apologizing to the guests, Siew said he had been under the weather recently because of surgery and had a sore throat from the flu. He said his doctor had told him to refrain from talking and cut down his number of meetings. Siew said the meeting was the first he had had with a large number of people since he resumed work in June.

  The 70-year-old had two tumors removed from his lung in May. He has been under target therapy since then. Ma has said he has no immediate plans to reduce Siew’s workload.

  Siew’s office yesterday said that it was a common practice for the vice president to meet a group of guests before the president does, adding that Ma was likely to meet members of the association this week.

  The doctor’s suggestion was that Siew refrain from attending outdoor events with many people, his office said.

  Also yesterday, the Presidential Office omitted from a press release an anecdote told by Ma during a meeting with foreign guests, a move the office described as “common practice.”

  Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said the press releases only covered “key points” in the president’s remarks. Although the anecdote Ma told yesterday was also a “key point” of the meeting, it was an “interesting” one that they nevertheless chose to leave out.

  A presidential aide who spoke on condition of anonymity said office staff were told to keep press releases “concise” and to discard “chitchat,” “digressions” and “mumbo jumbo.”

  The Presidential Office yesterday stunned the media by swiftly posting a press release concerning Ma’s meeting a delegation led by Rotary International president John Kenny and his wife. It usually takes the Presidential Office hours to issue press releases.

  During the meeting, Ma told an anecdote about himself, which was cut from the press release.

  Claiming he was one of the early honorary members of the Rotary Club, Ma said his code name at the association was “Justice,” adding that there was a story behind it.

  Ma said a former president of the club invited him to join. When the club president asked him which codename Ma wanted to use, Ma said he thought the name “Runner” would be a good choice because he liked running.

  The club president, however, asked him to think of another one, Ma said. Ma said he told him he had just stepped down from the position of minister of justice and was a minister without portfolio at that time. The club president once introduced him as “minister without justice,” Ma said, drawing a round of laughter from the guests. Ma said since then he has been using the codename “Justice,” Ma said.

  Ma’s meeting with Rotary International yesterday was to express the government’s appreciation for its assistance in organizing the Summer Deaflympics, which will be held next month in Taipei. The local chapters of the Rotary Club will provide more than 5,700 volunteers.
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