Mon, Nov 18, 2002 page3

• Mayor Ma Ying-jeou and DPP candidate Lee Ying-yuan go for youth, Hakka votes

  • By Sandy Huang / STAFF REPORTER
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  After the two televised debates and weeks of hard campaigning, Taipei City voters are beginning to grasp the election strategies of incumbent Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and DPP candidate Lee Ying-yuan (李應元).

  Indeed, from campaigning rallies, TV commercials, policy outlines to personal Web sites and campaign literature, it's easy to assess the campaign styles and strategies adopted by both candidates as they vie for the job of "Taipei city mayor" in the Dec. 7 election.

  One obvious similarity shared by both camps is the use of popular culture to appeal to voters, especially younger voters, in new ways.

  Not only do both camps have their own Web sites, both Ma's and Lee's feature chat rooms and rich visual effects such as flash and phat-animated designs to attract visitor's attention.

  Aside from regular text that features press releases, campaigning schedules, policies and ideas, Ma's Web site enables visitors to download his campaign songs as well as clips of his TV spots while Lee's allows visitors to play interactive games, view his TV spots on-line and his campaign rallies live on the Web.

  "Through images, we hope the Web site will give visitors an understanding of Taipei's multi-faceted culture," King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), Ma's campaign spokesperson, was quoted as saying at the launch of the Web site as he pointed out the numerous photos of Ma at work and play on display at the site. "We want to convey to the public an image that's full of energy," he said.

  To connect better with voters, both camps have adopted informal strategies such as setting up outdoor coffee shops for the public to enjoy while staging small gatherings at the shops. Ma's camp has organized some diners where professional musicians play for the audience. Lee's campaign has held vision presentations and a Pala Pala dance at his coffee shop.

  "Through these kinds of small, informal gatherings, we hope to strengthen interaction with the public and make politics more real and digestible to them while introducing our candidate's vision of Taipei," said Peng Tien-haw (彭天豪), a spokesperson for Lee's campaign.

  Both candidates are attempting to woo support and votes from the city's Hakka minority as both candidates make frequent appearances at Hakka events and have outlined policies on the preservation of Hakka culture and language in their campaign pledges.

  But there the similarities end.

  Lee's campaign rallies have all the trappings of a rock concert, with air horns blaring and people screaming dong suan -- meaning "get elected" in Taiwanese -- while Ma opts for non-conventional rallies, which feature folk, Hakka and other forms of music before he makes his appearance.

  "We [DPP] are skilled at conducting conventional campaign rallies," Peng told the Taipei Times.

  "In order to boost Lee's candidacy in a given period of time, as his face is relatively new to Taipei residents, we've chosen to stage this kind of campaign rally, which is a great way to centralize support and enhance the candidate's confidence and popularity," Peng said.

  Wu An-wen (吳恩文), chief of the news section for Ma's campaign, talked about Ma's non-conventional, laid-back approach to campaigning.

  "It has been [Mayor] Ma's wish to give Taipei residents an elegant kind of campaign setting where the emotions of the crowd will stay rational," Wu said.

  It's hard to miss the political heavyweights and influential people stumping for Lee's candidacy.

  Notable public figures such as President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Premier Yu Shyi-kun to party Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), local head Taipei County Commissioner Su Chen-chang (蘇貞昌) and Annie Lee (李安妮), the daughter of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) have all stumped for Lee.

  "Some [pundits and Lee's supporters] have expressed uncertainty that we played the so-called `presidential card' too soon," Peng said, referring to the early and frequent exposure of Chen at Lee's campaign activities.

  "However, we thought the move was needed to boost Lee's popularity among the Taipei public."

  "President Chen's stumping for Lee will consolidate Lee's supporters," Peng said.

  Peng added that former president Lee Teng-hui would most likely be stumping for Lee as well in the final week before the Dec. 7 election.

  But Ma has, for the most part, avoided appearing with political heavyweights such as party chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) at his weekly campaign rallies.

  "Due to the nature of the [non-conventional] approach we are taking with regard to staging campaigning rallies, these musical feast-like settings are not appropriate for political figures, that's why it might seem as if the political figures such as Lien and others have not been appearing at Ma's rallies," Wu told the Taipei Times.

  "They [political heavyweights] do drum up support for Ma by showing up at other campaign activities such as the inauguration of Ma's numerous support teams," Wu said.

  PFP spokesman Hsieh Kung-ping (謝公秉) had confirmed earlier last month that PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) is willing to stump for Ma if the Ma camp sees the need to schedule such events.

  Seeking reelection, Ma's campaign slogan is "My future is not a dream" (我的未來不是夢); while Lee's slogan is "In Taipei" (讓台北IN起來), using words that play on the sound of his own name "Ying," pledged to develop Taipei into a strong city that is international, inclusive, innovative and intelligent.

  While the election is, by nature, full of contingencies, the effectiveness of both camps' strategic campaigning will not be known until the votes are cast on Dec. 7th.
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