Well-known for her active role in campaigning for her younger brother during elections, Ma Yi-nan (
Ma Ying-jeou confirmed a story in Next Magazine last month that Ma Yi-nan met Chang An-le (張安樂), the former leader of the Bamboo Union gang who is wanted by Taiwanese authorities, at a campaign party last year held by Taiwanese businesspeople in Shenzhen, China.
Although Ma Ying-jeou denied receiving political donations from Chang and claimed that he had no knowledge of the meeting, his sister's move drew harsh criticism from the pan-green camp for her soliciting support from criminals.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential hopeful Frank Hsieh's (
The controversy surrounding Ma Yi-nan continued when Hsieh's camp dug up her past and lashed out at her again for breaking the law in 1968 when she took the Joint College Entrance Examination for another examinee during her senior year at National Taiwan University's Department of English.
Ma Ying-jeou acknowledged the incident, and said his sister had been "severely admonished" by their father for her "wild past."
He said he was still trying to determine whether Ma Yi-nan's past would have a negative impact on his electoral performance, but Ma's camp has asked Ma Yi-nan to avoid attending recent campaign events and discussing the disputes with the press.
Before all the recent controversy, Ma Yi-nan was a popular figure at KMT campaign events.
Especially as Ma Ying-jeou's wife, Chow Mei-ching (周美青), insists on detaching herself from her husband's public life, Ma Yi-nan became Ma Ying-jeou's "other half," accompanying him to almost all of his campaign events or campaigning for other pan-blue figures on his behalf since Ma Ying-jeou ran in the Taipei mayoral election in 1998.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Lai Su-ju (賴素如), who has developed a close relationship with Ma Yi-nan since she helped campaign for him over 10 years ago, described Ma Yi-nan as "passionate, chivalrous and outspoken."
"She is a warm and enthusiastic person, like a big sister," Lai said.
Ma Yi-nan, 67 years old, is 10 years older than Ma Ying-jeou, and has three other sisters.
Ma Ying-jeou's late father Ma Ho-ling (
Being the eldest sister in the family, Lai said Ma Yi-nan, nicknamed "big sister Ma," liked to take care of others, and her willingness to offer help made her very popular among party members.
"But she is not a politician. Most of the trouble she caused was because she is not familiar with political language," Lai said.
Earlier in January, Ma Ying-jeou denied an accusation from the Hsieh camp that he had received NT$500,000 (US$16,000) in political donations from The National Association of Architects, but Ma Yi-nan said during a telephone interview with CTI TV that her brother received political donations from biotechnology and pharmaceuticals associations.
Lee Shiao-feng (李筱峰), a professor of Taiwanese history at National Taipei University of Education, condemned Ma Yi-nan for getting involved in Ma Ying-jeou's campaign.
Lee said Ma Yi-nan's controversial past and a lack of political savvy made her a troublemaker, although recent incidents surrounding her should not have a huge impact on Ma Ying-jeou's campaign.
"It's a divided society, and we have either pan-blue or pan-green voters," Lee said. "Pan-blue voters will support Ma Ying-jeou despite his controversial sister."
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS