The Lunar New Year is the most happy, relaxing and heartwarming traditional holiday for the Taiwanese. According to tradition, Lunar New Year's Eve, the birthday of heaven on the ninth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, and the Lantern Festival on the 15th day are all major holidays of the New Year season. During this period, people clean up and sweep their houses, enjoy hearty meals with the family, put red banners on the doors, play with firecrackers, shop for groceries for the holiday period and give lucky money to the kids.
A major theme of the Lunar New Year is to leave behind the old -- bad habits, bad luck and inappropriate behavior -- to make amends with others and sweep out all the past wrongs. People welcome new hopes, opportunities, values and better luck, so as to strive for more happiness, a better life, longevity and fortune. Our hope for the nation is that in the days to come it can truly become a society filled with confidence, hope, love and harmony.
The people must learn to have absolute faith in the Formosa in which they live and to believe that the politicians, those in the military, businesspeople and workers will do their best to fight for the country, making it stronger and bringing it onto the world stage. Taiwan has already entered the global marketplace under the WTO framework. It is still working on entry into the healthcare network of the WHO and the peacekeeping umbrella of the UN. It is also striving to improve its hostile relationship with China, turning it into a friendly state-to-state relationship.
Politicians must work hard to earn the trust and respect of the people. In particular, lawmakers and government officials elected through the support of specific ethnic groups should no longer identify and define themselves as representing only those ethnic groups. They must become representatives of all people, so that all ethnic groups can learn to see themselves as new Taiwanese and identify with this nation.
For example, in Taipei, approximately 30 percent of people identify with China and 70 percent identify with Taiwan. While Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) may be a mainlander, he was still able to garner 70 percent of the votes in the last election. This indicates that the people no longer feel the constraints of ethnicity. Taiwanese can truly embrace everyone who identifies with the nation.
Hopefully, Taiwan will have an even better year this year. The quality of its culture and living environment, as well as the level of harmony between ethnic groups, can improve. Politicians must not hurt the nation's interests any longer. Businesspeople must no longer be obsessed with making money, disregarding all else in the process. Professionals must improve their skills. Students should stop fooling around until they get their diplomas. Everyone should work hard for their homeland, society and country.
"Kung Hsi Fa Tsai (
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