The speedy reaction from Taipei City Government officials in fixing municipal problems listed on Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) Plurk has left some Netizens wondering whether it is more efficient to get problems solved through complaints filed on Su’s social-networking Web site than dialing Taipei City’s 24-hour citizen 1999 hotline.
Plurk is a local micro-blogging service similar to Twitter and has become one of the most popular messaging services in Taiwan. Many politicians, including Su, have become plurkers to communicate with their supporters.
In recent days, Su started addressing municipal issues on his Plurk, with one of his latest posts pointing to problems with the city government’s installation of a sign on Zhonghua Rd.
Su on Friday plurked that he had called up the 1999 hotline and complained the sign’s standing base was broken and needed fixing. He chided the city government for laxness in its installation as the text faced the road not the sidewalk, despite being aimed at pedestrians. The only way to read the sign was to stand in the road and risk being hit, Su said.
Less than three hours after the post went up, the city government dispatched workers to fix the problems.
In response to the Netizen’s comments, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the case highlighted the efficiency of the hotline. Hau, a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and seeking re-election in the year-end vote, reiterated his government’s efforts to offer better services to Taipei residents. Earlier last month, the 1999 Taipei Citizen Hotline was named Public Service of the Year by a Hong Kong-based consumer service consortium.
At a separate setting on Saturday when asked for comments, Su said the quick fix from the city government was probably a result of the coming mayoral election.
“But either way, it is good for Taipei residents [that the problems got solved quickly,]” he said.
Aside from the use of Plurk, Facebook pages have also gained in popularity among candidates running in the Nov. 27 special municipality elections.
To date, Su’s Facebook page has a fan base of about 25,000, while that of Hau enjoys a fan base of about 2,500.
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