On Sept. 30, I attended a private banquet hosted by good friends of the DPP's Taipei mayoral candidate, Lee Ying-yuan (李應元). The participants came from the media, cultural and academic circles and most either did not know Lee personally or had little contact with him.
I have never been a campaign adviser and have always kept a distance from politics. I fully understand the role of a media person and the need to maintain impartiality and objectivity in news reporting. But this was a private gathering and I was not there for reporting purposes. Moreover, the remarks I made there did not run counter to my professional conscience or my role in the media. Basically I attended the meeting as a voter.
Since I was no campaign expert, my remarks did not outline any "winning strategy" for Lee. I simply gave my thoughts as a voter. I said, quite frankly, "I have two reasons for not voting for [Taipei Mayor] Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九]: first, I am a victim of Typhoon Nari. For this reason alone, I will definitely not vote for Ma. Second, Ma appointed Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) as head of the Cultural Bureau of Taipei City. I think the appointment was a great insult to Taipei residents.
Actually, like most people, I once had a relatively good impres-sion of Ma. (Undeniably, a good majority of people judge others by their looks, and Ma is considered one of Taiwan's best-looking politicians.) For a while, we both taught at National Chengchi University and often ran into each other on the campus.
I first met Ma in 1987. He was visiting South Korea in his capacity as the deputy secretary-general of the KMT. At the time, I was the Seoul correspondent for the United Daily News. On the second day of his visit, the embassy arranged for Ma to have dinner with the Seoul correspondents for the Taiwan media.
Ma shook hands with everyone in a very down-to-earth manner. But, I discovered that his hands were sweaty and sticky. Later, when he talked to us, not only was his voice shaking, but his hands were also trembling. At the time, he would have been around 37 years old. I was very curious about why he was so nervous. Did he have no self-
confidence? Why did he feel so edgy when meeting only his compatriots? If meeting one of his own was enough to get him so edgy, imagine what he would be like when he met with foreigners? How could such a person conduct "party diplomacy?"
That was my first impression of Ma. I had no bias against him and this account of our encounter is no exaggeration, but simply a straightforward statement of fact. At the time, I felt sympathy for him, because I felt he was simply too young for his post, having been appointed at the age of 34. His father worked for the KMT for his entire life, but made it no further than deputy chairman of his local KMT chapter. No wonder Ma was so timid and nervous, to the point of trembling all the time.
When I next met him, he had become an experienced government official. He was much more mature, and no longer so nervous. Instead, one could sense arrogance in his face.
He was a magnet for women voters and the brightest prospective political star. With the exception of his Taipei mayoral seat, he had been appointed to all the posts he had held, rather than earning them through hard work and elections. Having cut his political teeth in such a privileged manner, he was like a flower in the nursery. His arrogance was fully understandable.
The biggest failure during his term as Taipei mayor has been the mishandling of Typhoon Nari. Much controversy has been generated in the year since the devastating floods generated by Nari. From the beginning to the end, Ma simply blamed the large volume of rain for City Hall's mistakes. He adamantly insisted that the devastation was not man-made and casually evaded and diluted the real issues.
But I believe that the biggest contributor to the city's mishandling of the floods was Ma's arrogance. This was reflected by his refusal to work with the central government on flood-prevention before the typhoon and to offer sincere apologies and punish negligent officials after the flood.
The full seriousness of the worst flooding in Taipei for seven decades was concealed by the media's deliberate efforts to protect Ma. There was no channel in which citizens could vent their rage. Even the United Daily News, which suffered devastating losses because of the floods, kept its mouth shut in order to protect Ma. But, most citizens, like me, can be expected to vent their anger at the ballot box. Nari will return to haunt Ma in the Decem-ber election.
Ma neither identifies with nor understands Taiwan's soil. He speaks fluent English, but barely any Taiwanese (which he did not begin to learn until the last election campaign got underway). He never knew that Taiwan gets plenty of rainfall (the rainy season lasts for more than half of each year and annual average rainfall exceeds 2,000mm). We get floods, but almost never drought. The most that usually happens is a temporary disruption to water supply caused by irregular rainfall.
The month-long drought during this past summer put the mayor on edge. As a result, a system of water rationing was imposed, prompting many complaints on the part of city residents. For DPP officials, who come mostly from farming families, this was simply hilarious. They watched in silence as Ma continued to make a fool of himself. Eventually, water rationing was suddenly ended. But Ma remained silent. Once again, he exhibited his skill at evading issues and offered no apology.
Furthermore, Ma's appointment of Lung was a mistake. Lung is an arrogant writer who is ignorant of both Taiwanese and Taiwan's cultures and speaks no Taiwanese. Surely, more than a few Taipei residents must feel as resentful about this as I do.
In her first three months on the job, Lung was engaged in constant disputes with the Taipei City Council among others. She also had a major dispute with the then-Taipei 228 Memorial Museum curator Iap Phok-bun (葉博文) after she inquired, in a most arrogant manner, "How do you plan to `celebrate' 228 Memorial Day?"
Do the Jewish people "celebrate" the Holocaust? Do the Chinese "celebrate" the Rape of Nanjing? In view of her sense of "ethnic superiority" as a Chinese and her "cultural ignorance," it was not only a gross mistake but a big joke to have her spearhead the newly established cultural bureau. But Ma has no conception of the extent of his mistakes.
What Lung considers "Taipei culture" is the hosting of cultural events in the ruins of the Chien-kuo Beer Plant and Sung-shan Cigarette Factory, as though cigarettes and beer are all there is to Taipei culture. Actually, sugar cane and rice are much more integral to Taipei culture. But she does not appreciate this.
With a large budget at her disposal, Lung can also buy up senior writers. To promote unification with China, Lung invited the controversial South Korean writer Hwang Seok-young to Taipei. Hwang is the designated mouthpiece of the North Korean government and its propaganda agent in South Korea. By inviting him to Taipei, was Lung echoing North Korea's concept of unification? She grossly underestimates the intelligence of the people of Taipei. Actually, not surprisingly, Lung has long been considered a liability by City Hall.
In the 15 years since I first met Ma, I've watched him transform. He went from trembling out of a lack of confidence, to arrogance, to evasiveness in times of trou-ble. Frankly, I am thoroughly disappointed with him. He is a brat spoiled by the admiration of women and his former superiors. He has never tasted defeat. He has relied on favoritism throughout his career. This plain sailing has made him arrogant.
Even after quitting as minister of justice, he was able to take up a teaching position at Chengchi University due to special privileges. The law department opened a door especially for him, almost sacrificing its academic prestige as a result. But he left only a year later to run for Taipei mayor. Having enjoyed special privileges all his life, he thought nothing of it, not even showing any gratitude.
For all the above reasons, I think he should experience defeat for a change, so that he will learn how to be humble and engage in self-scrutiny.
Rick Chu is the editor in chief of the Taipei Times. The views expressed in this article are his own. (Editor's note: This is the first in a series of campaign forum pieces on the December Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections. Interested persons may submit 600 to 650 word commentaries to be considered for inclusion in the forum.)
I came to Taiwan to pursue my degree thinking that Taiwanese are “friendly,” but I was welcomed by Taiwanese classmates laughing at my friend’s name, Maria (瑪莉亞). At the time, I could not understand why they were mocking the name of Jesus’ mother. Later, I learned that “Maria” had become a stereotype — a shorthand for Filipino migrant workers. That was because many Filipino women in Taiwan, especially those who became house helpers, happen to have that name. With the rapidly increasing number of foreigners coming to Taiwan to work or study, more Taiwanese are interacting, socializing and forming relationships with
Chinese social media influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣), whose real name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), made statements advocating for “reunifying Taiwan [with China] through military force.” After verifying that Liu did indeed make such statements, the National Immigration Agency revoked her dependency-based residency permit. She must now either leave the country voluntarily or be deported. Operating your own page and becoming an influencer require a certain amount of support and user traffic. You must successfully gain approval for your views and attract an audience. Although Liu must leave the country, I cannot help but wonder how many more “Yayas” are still
Earlier signs suggest that US President Donald Trump’s policy on Taiwan is set to move in a more resolute direction, as his administration begins to take a tougher approach toward America’s main challenger at the global level, China. Despite its deepening economic woes, China continues to flex its muscles, including conducting provocative military drills off Taiwan, Australia and Vietnam recently. A recent Trump-signed memorandum on America’s investment policy was more about the China threat than about anything else. Singling out the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a foreign adversary directing investments in American companies to obtain cutting-edge technologies, it said
The recent termination of Tibetan-language broadcasts by Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a significant setback for Tibetans both in Tibet and across the global diaspora. The broadcasts have long served as a vital lifeline, providing uncensored news, cultural preservation and a sense of connection for a community often isolated by geopolitical realities. For Tibetans living under Chinese rule, access to independent information is severely restricted. The Chinese government tightly controls media and censors content that challenges its narrative. VOA and RFA broadcasts have been among the few sources of uncensored news available to Tibetans, offering insights
RSS