Sunday's claims of a foreigners' Ecstasy party by a local cable news network, a local newspaper and two Taipei City councilors was likely the result of a bungled political attack on Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The attack was spearheaded by DPP councilors Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) and Yan Sheng-guan (顏聖冠), who assailed Taipei City for lax drug enforcement at the Huashan Arts District at a press conference Sunday afternoon. In recent months, Wang has taken the stance of a moral crusader, repeatedly attempting to embarrass Ma over the presence of sex and drugs in Taipei. Late last year, Wang confronted Ma with cameras and a Japan sex tourist's guide to Taipei. In April, he again tried to discredit the mayor by releasing his own personal blacklist of the top 10 Ecstasy clubs in Taipei.
PHOTO: YU SEN-LUN, TAIPEI TIMES
When the councilors learned that the arts district was actually under the administration of the central government, they changed their tack, lashing out at local artists and foreigners, blaming both for local drug problems. The councilors also lambasted the local police precinct, claiming lax enforcement.
The way the attack was staged, making use of footage taken during the party, which was used at the Sunday press conference and aired on Power News, give grounds for strong suspicion that the city councilors conspired with the cable station to produce a video tape that created the appearance of drug use at the party. Both Power News and Wang deny this, but their stories regarding the origin of the video do not match.
Chou Chen-hou (
Wang, meanwhile, told Taipei Times that the video tape was given to him on Sunday morning by "a 30-something teacher at a nearby college" who simply could not tolerate the noise and "mad behavior" that took place at Huashan on weekends. Contradicting Power News, Wang said that this mysterious informant had distributed the videotape to both him and "different media." He also claimed to have first decided to hold a press conference after seeing the Power News report.
Power News first aired its video at noon Sunday. Wang, accompanied by Yan, displayed his video three and a half hours later at a press conference.
Moreover, the Power News broadcast closely mimicked Wang and Yan's rhetorical strategy for attacking Ma, first making accusations of drug abuse at Huashan, then blaming police and Taipei City for not dealing with the problem.
Power News was also the only station to air footage of Wang and Yan's press conference, and later in the day tracked down Mayor Ma for comment on the Huashan incident.
At the Sunday press conference, Wang complained, "Taipei is becoming a foreigners' drug paradise," before going on to compare it to "Shanghai of one hundred years ago."
In regard to the arts district, community and specifically Saturday night's event, he declared, "art is a false name for this, it is actually just about [the drug] Ecstasy!"
Although Yan, who, like Wang had only seen the videotape, was seen on TV Sunday screaming at event organizers, yelling, "What kind of event is this? People in the middle of the night smoking marijuana and taking Ecstasy!"
Wang also criticized Taipei City, pointing at the videotape and yelling, "why aren't the police doing anything about this?"
Many of Wang's statements, notably those attacking foreigners and Taipei City government, were mirrored closely in the media. Sunday afternoon and evening, Power News (
Sunday's front page headline of the China Times Express (
The happening targeted by these reports was an outdoor African drum circle organized by the SunSon Theatre (
Claims made by the city councilors and the media regarding drug use at the event were eventually found to have little or no basis. A patrolling police squad car drove through the event at 10:30pm Saturday night, finding no suspicious behavior. A police report released yesterday declared that no evidence of drugs was found in a search conducted the morning after the party. Police records also show that no complaints of noise or any other disturbance were made by area residents on the night of the event.
Wang's own position as a moral crusaders is also called into doubt. When compiling his black list of clubs in which drug abuse was common, he omitted a club infamous for drug procurement that happens to be located within his election district.
"[One of the discos omitted from the list] is in Wang's election district. Many people believe that he has some sort of connection with that club, but nothing has ever been proved," said one local DJ.
Wang composed his nightspot blacklist through evidence gathered by his aides, who he sent out to "investigate" various discos. He made no mention of using such tactics in obtaining the Huashan video, however.
Subsequent to the reports, Taipei's arts community has attempted to discredit the attacks through a Monday press conference at Huashan and a hearing yesterday at the Legislative Yuan. Even so, those present at Saturday night's drum circle claim that substantial damage has been done by the Power News report that cannot be easily repaired.
"Can you imagine how upsetting it is to be shown on television, to have them say you are on drugs, and to have that be completely untrue?" said Lin Hung-chang (
"Many people were very upset by this. It was very damaging to people who had their faces shown on TV, especially the foreigners. And now, we've shown it's not true, but this story is not even in the news anymore, or else it's buried in the back pages," he said.
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