More than 1,000 people crammed into Ma Village (馬家庄) in Miaoli County’s Tongsiao Township (通宵) yesterday, hoping to receive a lucky red envelope from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), but the manner in which the eager crowd was ushered past the president caused some displeasure among those who had waited several hours to meet him.
In Mandarin, “Ma Village” literally means the “village of the Ma family.” However, while most of Ma Village’s residents are surnamed Ma, none of the Hong Kong-born president’s ancestors or relatives have ever lived there.
Guarded by 600 police officers, Ma spent less than two seconds with each person. To move the queue along, Ma’s staff would either personally shoo each person sway or use a loudspeaker to expedite the process.
PHOTO: FU CHAO-BIAO, TAIPEI TIMES
DISAPPOINTMENT
Many people who had been standing in line were left disappointed when the president left early to visit a local temple, leaving his staffers to finish handing out the rest of the envelopes.
One man said he had been waiting for more than 48 hours to be the first person to receive a red envelope from Ma.
“I didn’t even go home for the New Year’s Eve dinner. I sincerely believe being the first [to get a red envelope from the president] will bring me good luck throughout the coming year,” he said.
A mother with two young children said she felt she was lining up for food stamps rather than to meet the president, whom she said she had voted for.
EYE CONTACT
“He didn’t even bother to look into my eyes. Maybe he actually didn’t want to be there,” she said.
Seventy-three-year-old Miaoli farmer Wu Tung-ming (吳東民) said he was not at all interested in getting anywhere near the president, saying Ma was a showman rather than a statesman.
“This is nothing short of a theatrical performance. [Ma] is from China and Ma Village has been in Taiwan for more than a century. He has no business being here except to put on a show,” he said, adding that Ma should rather spend time thinking about how to revive the economy than being pampered by his supporters.
Although this was Ma’s first trip to the village as president, he has been paying regular visits there for the last 16 years.
TV news reports said the president had prepared 15,000 red envelopes for the visit, but only around 3,000 people showed up.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei County Councilor Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) said Ma was “impersonal” and “ungrateful.”
“The purpose of giving somebody a red envelope is to show the person he or she is important to you. But the way Ma did it seemed to be more a means of boosting his popularity than really thanking supporters for their valuable votes that had made his presidency possible,” the councilor said.
Chen Chien-ming said that, compared with former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who used to say a few words to each red envelope recipient and once even sat down to enjoy a bowl of soup with local residents, “Ma obviously does not care about people from the grassroots level.”
Ma has no other scheduled public events today or tomorrow.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS