President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday met with Chiang Mei-hua (江美華) — dubbed Ma’s “super fan” by local media — as Chiang expressed concern over the president’s health.
According to Chiang’s son, Wang Shang-chih (王尚智), due to the Presidential Office’s dormancy following the Chinese National Party’s (KMT) resounding defeat in last year’s nine-in-one elections, as well as the recent string of resignations of Ma’s close aides, his mother was very concerned about Ma’s health.
Former National Security Council secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) resigned on Thursday because of heart problems, and Mainland Affairs Council minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) resigned on Tuesday.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
Wang Shang-chih said that during the breakfast at Chiang’s house in Hualien County yesterday, Chiang asked Ma: “King and others have left. What will we do now? Is the Cabinet overwhelmed?”
Ma did not respond directly, but said that King left Taiwan several times before during Ma’s time in office, adding that he did not think King’s resignation would be a problem, according to Wang Shang-chih.
Chiang encouraged Ma by telling him about the rise and fall of politicians, and told the president “not to take it too personally.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) yesterday lashed out at remarks Ma had made during a recent interview, in which he said that he weighs himself three times a day in order to stay fit.
“Ma shies away from the public eye for more than one month, and then talks gibberish in his first interview after he returns from outer space,” Tsai said.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) ridiculed Ma by saying: “People used to think Ma reads the newspapers three times a day and implement policies according to the information therein. While we cannot prove that, we can now be sure that he weighs himself three times a day, which begs the question: What is he thinking all day? How to maintain his BMI? No wonder his governance is so poor.”
He urged Ma to refrain from talking about things such as how often he weighs himself or for how many years he uses a pair of swimming pants, saying that people want Ma to prove his ability to govern the nation, not to be a “mister nice guy” who cares about trifling matters.
Users of the Professional Technology Temple (PTT), the nation’s largest online bulletin board system, also weighed in on the matter.
A netizen named “zhttp” said: “Is he the president or a model?” while another, named “mason1025” said: “I would rather have a fat but competent president.”
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