Talking about why he entered politics, Kuo Tien-tsai (郭添財), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) mayoral candidate for Greater Tainan, said an indefinable bond existed between a person and his place of birth.
“I’ve dedicated my life to Tainan,” the 48-year-old said.
Kuo said that because he felt a deep emotional bond to the place, he had never changed his household registration from Tainan.
GRAPHIC: TT
“Over the past dozen years or so, everything has been about politics and ideological manipulation, and construction and development have faltered and come to a halt. It is the duty of any true child of Tainan to stand up and work to restore the glory and happiness that belongs to local residents. Anyone who is born here and has grown up here should dedicate his or her life to creating a good home and future for the next generation,” he said.
Kuo’s father died when he was eight years old, leaving his mother to raise seven children on her own. Kuo made a promise to study hard and become a doctor who could save people’s lives. However, after being accepted to National Tainan First Senior High School, he had to leave after only three days, his mother telling him that although she knew he wanted to attend the school, the family couldn’t afford it. She therefore asked him to attend National Tainan Teachers’ College, which was free.
“You have no father and I have no money for school,” she told him.
Listening to his mother, Kuo chose the free teachers’ college.
After graduation, Kuo worked as an elementary school teacher, then placed first in the college entrance exam before obtaining an educational specialist degree. He served as director of the Changhua County Government’s Bureau of Education, associate professor at National Tainan Teachers College and a legislator between 2002 and 2005. He also served as vice president of Diwan University. Kuo said the hard farmwork he did during his early years taught him that just as in farming, not all hard work bears fruit. However, he felt that if you don’t try at all, you end up with nothing.
Kuo’s wife, Lien Chiu-hui (連久慧), said he was two years above her at Taiwan Provincial Tainan Junior Teachers’ College, but that he didn’t start to pursue her until he was doing his military service. She said that during his two years in the service, he wrote her almost 600 letters, each written with a calligraphy brush.
Lien, who now serves as president of Gueiren Elementary School in Tainan County, said she saved the letters and that every time they quarrel, the letters are an effective fire extinguisher, because remembering them makes it difficult to continue an argument.
Kuo likes tennis and cycling. He has cycled around Taiwan with friends. Although he has entered politics, he said he would never regret his educational career. Kuo said he has the habit of keeping a diary, writing calligraphy and painting because it helps him slow down, think things through and write down famous quotes to encourage himself to do greater things.
Kuo said he always carries a bottle of sun block with him to -maintain a healthy and energetic look as he walks around the city. He also never leaves home without his lip balm because it makes his lips look fresh.
Kuo said his constant daily interaction with voters and having to get on stage to explain his political ideals makes it unavoidable that he will sometimes get a dry mouth. Drinking water may stop him from dehydrating, but if his lips dry out, he looks tired and out of shape, so he applies lip balm as soon as his lips feel dry. That makes him look fresher, creating a better impression on voters.
Su Ming-kuo (蘇明國), chairman of the KMT’s Greater Tainan party headquarters, said Kuo’s educational and academic background gives him a clean and fresh image, and that he exudes a feeling of intimacy, friendliness and tolerance, in addition to being free of the past burdens that weigh down many politicians.
With his friendly and enthusiastic appearance, Kuo is that rare middle-aged KMT politician who has no airs, but that is also the reason why he has been labeled as someone who doesn’t have an opinion.
Lin Ching-chih (林清池), a former president of Anshun and Fuhsing elementary schools in Tainan, has known Kuo for more than 30 years. Lin says Greater Tainan needs change, and he thinks Kuo, who had to study hard, has the ability to implement that change as the first mayor of Greater Tainan.
In 2005, Kuo was the KMT’s candidate in the Tainan County commissioner election, an election he lost to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) by about 3.2 percentage points, or less than 17,000 votes.
After entering the Greater Tainan mayoral elections, Kuo has repeated on many different occasions that he was born and raised in Guanmiao Township (關廟鄉), Tainan County, as a son of farmers. He says that he therefore has a deep understanding of the hardships of a farmer’s life, adding that if he were elected, he would make sure the city develops evenly so that both city and countryside get to enjoy the fruits of development.
In addition, the KMT is also in charge of the central government, which is good, Kuo says, because the merger of Tainan city and county will require assistance at the national level.
Kuo says Tainan is the old cultural capital of Taiwan and he would emulate Kyoto in Japan in shaping Tainan into the capital for cultural tourism. To do so, Kuo has visited Kyoto, where he was impressed with how residents were very proud of the city.
“If I am elected mayor of Greater Tainan, I will turn it [Tainan] into Taiwan’s capital for cultural -tourism and restore the feeling of historic glory to the residents of Tainan,” Kuo said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
This is the first in a series of candidates’ profiles for the Nov. 27 special municipality elections. In the coming week, the principal candidates in the five municipalities will be presented in the same order as the number drawn on the ballots.
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