Yes, election season is upon us, and local officialdom is providing plenty of diversions for our entertainment.桃園縣平鎮市長陳萬得原獲國民黨提名，將參選桃園縣第5選區（平鎮市、龍潭鄉）立委，但疑似涉入房地產恐嚇糾紛遭到起訴，他已建請國民黨撤回立委提名。不過，陳萬得的妻子呂玉玲昨（26）日正式宣布，她將代夫出征。It says that the KMT legislative candidate in Pingjzhen/Longtan in Taoyuan county, formerly the mayor of Pingzhen town, was more or less forced by his fellow KMTers to step aside after being indicted for irregularities in land deals. Naturally, his wife was put forward as the candidate, although another KMT politician has also been mentioned.
This wife-as-substitute-candidate is a frequent occurrence in local politics. For example, the Taitung County chief election from five years ago....
Kuang is the ex-wife of Wu Chun-li (吳俊立), a KMT member who was elected county commissioner last December, but was then suspended from his post immediately upon assuming office because of a corruption conviction.Or the epic case of Fu Kun-chi, County Chief of Hualien, who "divorced" his wife and then appointed her his deputy for when he lost his position due to a corruption conviction.
Wu then divorced his wife, Kuang, in an attempt to sidestep restrictions preventing a commissioner from selecting a relative or spouse as deputy. Kuang then joined the KMT to run for the Taitung post.
Such cases highlight the clan and patronage networks that dominate local politics. Note that the Taitung and Hualien county chiefs were both big winners in the elections. Sometimes I get tired of reading that the public is tired of corruption; judging by the regular victories of corrupt politicians and parties, the public can't get enough of corruption.
Meanwhile, in our fair city of Taichung, Now News is reporting that our visionary mayor Jason Hu of the KMT scored another epic win for public order and decency when he sent around a memo this weekend to 14 police precincts telling them that convenience stores would no longer be permitted to have outside tables, since they may cause trouble with public order. I am sure he's not attempting to drum up business for local KTVs. If this really is seriously enforced, one has to wonder how it will affect the election.
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Jason Hu (Foreigner's Friend and Man of International Tastes, Jason Hu) is a joke.
ReplyDeleteRather than actually make sound policy, he is always looking for the 30 sec. solution to all his troubles.
Ala Pub burns to the ground because the establishment was allowed to remain open and operational despite numerous safety violations... all with the help of a stuffed envelope. Rather than attack the problem i.e. corrupt officials on the take... he determines in a sort of Footloose logic... that the culprit is live music and so he shuts down all live music in Taichung excepting Lady Gaga.
Of course, this also meant most other watering holes that were not directly "connected" were shut down as well leaving only those spots with the right leverage.
So, the usual patrons of those establishments go to the 7-11s to hang out and drink. Read, "drifting foreigners", and this rabble of foreigners is causing good Taiwanese citizens to feel nervous entering a 7-11 at night as they might have to speak English or something. So Jason Hu decides to remove the tables and chairs to force these people (Foreigners) elsewhere.
It reminds me of another useless Taichung Mayor; Mayor Cang Wen-ying. Rather than tackle the homeless problem in an election year, she toured tunnels and beneath overpasses to ask the homeless people if they could kindly leave the city to avoid becoming such an eyesore.
As if working-class people supping on a beer outside 7-11 is the worst of Taichung's problems...
ReplyDeleteAt least it's been a while since I heard anyone parrot the line that Hu is a great mayor.
The irony is that Fu in Hualien will win again in Hualien! And the only thing he has done since acheiving office is pander to voters with outdoor concerts and firework displays. Virtually nothing of note has been done on his watch.It seems that voters will vote this man (a man that should be behind bars for corruption) a second term while he has literally sent taxpayer dollars up in smoke.
ReplyDeleteAn avid biker will never miss the route to Taitung and go to Taoyuan even during a storm.
ReplyDeletePoles apart.
And your blog ( like so many other foreigner experts ) sounds like you know everything about Taiwan...
Hadadi
Hadadi wrote:
ReplyDelete"And your blog ( like so many other foreigner experts ) sounds like you know everything about Taiwan..."
Why the rudeness and insecurity? If you lived in America for 20 years, spoke English well, and had shown that you had immersed yourself in the local history, culture and politics,would anyone suggest that your opinions were invalid because you were a "foreigner"? Of course not. So get over yourself. Taiwanese politics and culture is not inscrutable to people not born here if they make the effort to learn about it.
Ping Zheng is blueish but not completely unwinnable for a green candidate (the mayor before Chen was a DPP candidate) but add in Longtan (where i lived for many years) and it's basically a dead blue zone . (and no, Longtan's population does not get drowned out, it's one of the largest county in Taiwan in terms of population, north of 100k population and still growing fast.)
ReplyDeleteChen's case is odd espeically since his prime competitor before this whole mess was 7 term heavy weight Zhu Fung Zhi from the former Longtan district, a lot of eye brows were raised when Zhu, a nationally known political figure narrowly lost to the relatively unknown (nationally) Chen in primary pollings.
But the odd thing is that now Zhu doesn't want to run either dispite that Chen has been kicked out of the running and goes for the whole wife fiasco.
Though obviously one does have to point out that one of the pioneer of the whole wife running for husband fiasco was none other then Chen Sui Bian, his wife served as a legislator during his prison terms . of course Chen's case was far more justifiable given the circumstances.
I've noticed Michael gets the old, "You foreigner can not possibly know anything about our ancient and mysterious culture and ways" bullshit whenever he hits the nail on the head and it strikes fear in the hearts of bind ideologues who support the KMT because they always have.
ReplyDelete"I've noticed Michael gets the old, "You foreigner can not possibly know anything about our ancient and mysterious culture and ways" bullshit whenever he hits the nail on the head and it strikes fear in the hearts of bind ideologues who support the KMT because they always have."
ReplyDeleteWell, it's sad but true that any Taiwan experts ( locals and foreigners) doesn't need to get hit on the head to know the who's who in Taitung and Taoyuan politics.
Unless of course he's the only bloke who believes that he's a bloody expert !
No offense mate but some smart arse with 'wiser than thou locals' mentality smells bloody colonial.
Syd
No offense mate but some smart arse with 'wiser than thou locals' mentality smells bloody colonial.
ReplyDeleteNo offense, mate, but any 'wiser than thou locals' mentality is entirely in your own head.
"No offense mate but some smart arse with 'wiser than thou locals' mentality smells bloody colonial."
ReplyDeleteRiiiight, like Michael's views are completely alien to the Taiwanese psyche and definitely not more or less in line with Taiwan's second biggest political party. WTF?!
I was born and raised in Taiwan I got my education from kindergarten all the way to college in Taiwan and I even fulfilled my military service before I came to the United States. Do I know Taiwan better than Michael Turton? I certainly don't think so. Most, and probably all, of my friends grew up the same way I did, mind contaminated and brain washed by the KMT education system. It's only the people like Michael with passion for Taiwan, did many people of my generation start to know the real history of Taiwan. Unfortunately, there are still many people who continue to refuse to accept the trueth about Taiwan.
ReplyDeleteMicheal - I think anon was referring to the fact that you got Taitung and Taoyuan mixed up. Wu Chun-li and Kuang Li-chen are Taitung politicians.
ReplyDeleteIt's just a typo, M, from typing too fast. Nobody else cared. Why not just mention that politely?
ReplyDeleteSome days I really want to ban comments, except that they are so useful once in a while. And without comments, there's no error correction. I'm not a newspaper, so I have to correct errors.
Michael - fair point. Most of the comments on your blog seem supportive. Trolls are unavoidable. I think shutting down the comments would make the blog a lot less interesting - there have been some great discussions on here.
ReplyDeleteMichael - come to think of it, there is no reason why you have to allow people to post personal attacks on your blog, Why not just bin them?
ReplyDelete