The campaign office of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) yesterday released a music video in its latest attempt to reduce the impact of his so-called “princeling” background of privilege and wealth on young voters.
The music video, directed by Kuang Sheng (鄺盛), features young people dancing to a song titled The Same World (同一種世界), a mix of hip-hop and R&B with lyrics by Vincent Fang (方文山).
Lien said he liked the lyrics, music and script, which depicted young people on motorcycles, in luxury cars and on skateboards.
“The images in the video were what I wanted to convey. This is is my style,” Lien said.
At the end of the video, a message appears saying that family background is not a criterion for judging a street dance competition, because all that matters are skills and concentration.
“You can say you like or dislike a candidate by intuition and subjectivity, but you need to understand a candidate’s policy platforms objectively to decide how would you like the world to be,” the lines read, adding that it does not matter whether a candidate had a privileged upbringing or not because: “We are seeking votes [like anyone else].”
Lien said that he hoped that the election would remain focused on discussions of policy.
“Voting is not just a way for people to vent dissatisfaction. It is a chance to find a way to resolve problems facing society,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Lien’s deputy campaign director, Justine Chou (周守訓), called a press conference to address 10 “top events” she said were made up to smear Lien, including the alleged wiretapping of independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) policy office — an incident that is still being investigated.
Separately, Lien visited Evergreen Group founder Chang Yung-fa (張榮發) to seek his opinion on Taipei’s economic development.
On a TV program yesterday evening, former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) joined Lien’s father, former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), in criticizing Ko over his family’s service as “loyal subjects” (皇民) of the Japanese emperor during the Japanese colonial era.
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