Ma Ying-jeou wins Taiwan presidency

Back to square one for Taiwan's democracy

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has won today's presidential election. The web site of Taiwan's Central Election Commission (CEC) says that Ma obtained 58.45% of the vote (7,658,724 votes), and that his only competitor, Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) of the DPP, got 41.55% (5,445,239 votes). With 17,321,603 eligible voters this time around, that gives a turnout of 75.65%, despite the good weather which defied forecasts all across Taiwan.

None of the "dirty tricks" the KMT claimed the DPP would pull came to be, including fires, accusations of sexual misconduct, assassination attempts, or surprise press conferences.

And since the KMT candidate won, there are no riots tonight like there were in 2004, which is about the only "positive" thing I have to say about this.

What's next?
A-gu (阿牛) has some good suggestions about changes the DPP needs to make. I'll save my own thoughts on this for later, but I think his suggestions are a good start.

In the meantime, there will obviously be a lot more fluffing of Ma Ying-jeou by the media, as indicated by this BBC profile of Ma whose first sentence begins, "The US-educated lawyer..."

Ma studied law, but he is not a lawyer because he never passed the bar exam.

Keep an eye out for articles in the English-language media which will say that Ma has "brought peace to Taiwan." As I hinted at above, the lack of pan-blue riots may seem "peaceful," but when pan-blue legislators come show up at your door doing "surprise inspections" or when you go through a "trial by pan-blue media," the feeling will be a bit different. Also, the kind of "peace" the media will be describing is that which comes from kowtowing to the bullies in Beijing who had no right to begin with to create the difficulties that have been faced by Taiwan.

By the way, how many of you readers would sell your vote -- and, therefore, your country and your freedom -- for NT$1,300 (~US$42.62), or even 1,000 times that amount? I really want to know.

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Stubs: Taiwan, 台灣, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Frank Hsieh, 謝長廷, Taiwan 2008 Presidential Election, 2008年台灣總統大選

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

Rocking Taiwan's vote

Punk the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)

Jonathan Adams recently wrote about Taiwan's DPP supposedly losing the youth vote, backing up his claims with numbers from the very blue United Daily News (聯合報) and all sorts of pan-blue talking points. Well, it certainly won't be the case if Freddy Lim (林昶佐) has anything to say about it.

Take a look at the can-do attitude and positive energy displayed in the music videos below, which I hope to see reflected across Taipei and all of Taiwan today:


向逆轉隊致敬，我們一定逆轉勝！
(Translation: Saluting the comeback team: We'll surely turn the tide!)
Video via the Freddy Action blog.

3:45 YouTube video: "逆轉．勝 守護台灣 FreddyAction"
(Translation: Comeback victory, protect Taiwan)
At the March 16, 2008 DPP rally in Taichung's Gancheng Park (干城公園), I saw more young people than I usually notice at such events.


Sexy babes light up the campaign merchandise table
at the March 19, 2008 DPP rally in Taichung
(Click to view full resolution image)

Candidates Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) between bows
(Click to view full resolution image)
Never give up. Let's see Taiwan headed towards a bright future!

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Motivators: Taiwan, 台灣, Frank Hsieh, 謝長廷, Su Tseng-chang, 蘇貞昌, Taiwan 2008 Presidential Election, 2008年台灣總統大選, comeback victory, 逆轉勝, Freddy Lim, 林昶佐

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

Hsieh within 3 percentage points of Ma

Finally, a green survey

Today's Taipei Times reports some good news:

Another poll released by the Southern Taiwan Society yesterday showed that Ma had the support of 41 percent of respondents, while Hsieh was backed by 38 percent.

That's within the margin of error.

Somebody also posted the info to Wikipedia, with a strange qualification:

And South News is on the extreme end of Pan-Green.

WTF? Of course, no source is there to back up that claim.

More info at South News (南方快報). Gotta post this quick.

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Polling data: Taiwan, 台灣, Taiwan 2008 Presidential Election, 2008年台灣總統大選, Frank Hsieh, 謝長廷, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

Taiwan: Frank Hsieh & Ma Ying-jeou's second presidential debate

Televised March 9, 2008

As happened coincidentally with the first debate on February 24, I was busy with family matters, so I can't comment on the content just yet. But YouTube user ricky200708 has posted all of the videos from yesterday's debate between Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and compiled them in playlist form:


20-part YouTube playlist: "2008/03/09 第二場總統大選電視辯論會"
(Translation: March 9, 2008 Second televised presidential debate


Notice the different elements from the usual YouTube player, including the arrows that will appear at the sides of the screen when you hover your cursor over the video, the thumbnails that will appear at the bottom, and the button to the right of Play/Pause which will show/hide the thumbnails. When the thumbnail view is enabled, you will also see smaller arrows to the left and/or right of the thumbnails, allowing you to see thumbnails and titles for the previous/next group of videos.

Discuss in comments.

UPDATE: Here is a report and some transcripts/translations (all English) from the debate via Monday's Taipei Times.
* Hsieh, Ma face off in last debate (report)
* Presidential election 2008: 12 days to go: Hsieh and Ma face the nation (transcript/translation) (Check out Ma's huge distortion within that transcript about the defense budget that his party blocked for 6 years.)
* Presidential election 2008: 12 days to go: Presidential hopefuls spar on critical issues (transcript/translation) (See Ma "one-China" Ying-jeou talk about a "Taiwan-centric" China policy!) [/update]

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Dancing pixels: Taiwan, 台灣, Taiwan 2008 Presidential Election, 2008年台灣總統大選, debate, 辯論, Frank Hsieh, 謝長廷, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

Hsieh-Ma debate

What'd we miss?

I was busy doing family things on Sunday, so I didn't get to see the debate between Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) -- candidates in Taiwan's 2008 presidential election to be held on March 22, 2008. However, videos of the debate have been uploaded to YouTube by others.


9'03" YouTube video: "2008/02/24 總統大選電視辯論會Part.01 如何改善通貨膨漲 -蔡孟珊"
(Translation: Presidential Election Televised Debate Part 01:
How can the effects of inflation be lessened?
[question asked by] Tsai Meng-shan)


Above is part 1 of the debate, uploaded by YouTube user ricky200708. See the remaining 22 parts on his YouTube channel. I haven't had the time to watch the whole debate yet.

The next one is scheduled for March 9, 2008. Feel free to discuss Sunday's debate in the comments.

---

Buzzers and bells: Taiwan, 台灣, Taiwan 2008 Presidential Election, 2008年台灣總統大選, debate, 辯論, Frank Hsieh, 謝長廷, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

Writer of letters threatening Chen Shui-bian and others is caught

Bluer than blue, badder than bad

Wednesday's Liberty Times (自由時報) had a headline story which their sister paper, the Taipei Times somehow missed [following translations by Tim Maddog]:

恐嚇總統、官員、立委、主播 前調查員落網

Former investigator who threatened the president, public officials, legislators, and commentators caught in dragnet

〔記者黃敦硯、邱燕玲、楊國文／台北報導〕陳水扁總統上週接獲威脅陳總統小心兩顆子彈、揚言強暴陳幸妤、綁架小安安的「恐嚇賀歲卡」，警方昨天在北縣中和市逮捕涉案的前調查員楊清海，並依筆跡鑑定與子彈批號發現，楊嫌從九十四年十一月起，即寄子彈恐嚇信給時任行政院長謝長廷，及署名「黑合會秘書長」寄恐嚇信給民代、官員與主播等，目前查出至少犯案卅起。

(Reporters Huang Tun-yan, Chiu Yan-ling, Yang Kuo-wen [spelling of all names guessed phonetically] / Taipei) Last week, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) received threats in a "New Year greeting card" telling him to beware of two bullets, that his daughter Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤) would be raped, and that his grandson Chao Yi-an (趙翊安) would be kidnapped. Yesterday [Tuesday], police in Taipei County's Chungho City arrested former investigator Yang Ching-hai (楊清海), based upon his handwriting and the batch numbers on the bullets. Beginning in November of 2005, the suspect mailed bullets as a threat to then-premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), signing his letter at "Secretary-General of the Black Collective." He also sent threatening letters to other elected representatives, officials, commentators, and others, and so far, he is suspected of involvement in at least 30 cases.

30 cases! It's about time they caught this guy.

What comes around goes around
The words "Black Collective" (黑合會) mentioned above are a variation of the word "triad" (三合會), with the word for "three" replaced with the Mandarin word for "black," representing here the underworld of criminal gangs, the Mafia, etc. I found one article in the Taipei Times which refers to this "group" simply as the "Heiho Association." The connection there is that the writer of the threatening letters containing bullets said that the recipients would end up like Taipei County councilor Wu Shan-jeou (吳善九) of the People First Party (PFP), who was shot dead in his office on May 23, 2007. According to the aforementioned article, "Wu had also received a threatening letter containing a bullet."

According to information I've heard elsewhere, Yang is suspected of having mailed bullets to some people -- such as Talking Show (大話新聞) host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) -- because they were "pro Taiwan independence," and of mailing bullets to people like former legislator Li Ao (李敖) because they were "too weak." Does this make him "neither blue nor green"? Perhaps he'd be better described as "bluer than blue."

A look at his past
A search of the Taipei Times for Yang's name brings up this single news item from 1999:

Playing secretly recorded tapes through loud speakers and making accusations in front of a curious crowd, a Buddhist nun who claimed to have been raped by a respected elderly monk yesterday turned what was supposed to be a solemn religious ceremony into a fiasco, with loudspeakers playing what can only be regarded as decidedly secular content.

The monk, known as Master Juhsu (如虛), had planned to preside at a ceremony at a Taipei monastery yesterday, but failed to show up to avoid "disturbances."

In the absence of the master, Miaowen (妙文) -- the nun making the accusations -- demanded that Juhsu take off his cassock and apologize to her for what she said was his alleged sexual offenses against her. Miaowen has filed charges of rape against Juhsu, who was her master 12 years ago at a Buddhist temple in Taichung, central Taiwan.

The 40-year-old nun claimed to have spoken to four other nuns who said they had been sexually assaulted by the same man.

Miaowen and dozens of her sympathizers, before hearing of his decision to stay away, had expected to confront Juhsu during the hand-over ceremony, and brought with them loud speakers and banners.

[...]

Miaowen's spokesman, Yang Ching-hai (楊清海), a former agent of the Investigation Bureau, said he had checked the authenticity of the tapes before he promised to help Miaowen, after hearing suggestions that they had been tampered with.

Yang admitted that Miaowen had planned what she wanted from the conversation, prior to the call with Juhsu, which she recorded without him knowing it.

"According to my own judgement on the basis of evidence provided by Miaowen, I think she is telling the truth," Yang said.

Very disturbing. I hope to learn much more about this Yang character in the very near future.

UPDATE: The suspect and his girlfriend have both been released on NT$100,000 bail. WTF?! Keep your eyes open for another "fled to China" story real soon.

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Pieces of the puzzle: Taiwan, 台灣, Yang Ching-hai, 楊清海, Chen Shui-bian, 陳水扁, Frank Hsieh, 謝長廷, Talking Show, 大話新聞, Cheng Hung-yi, 鄭弘儀, Li Ao, 李敖

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

United Bamboo -- KMT's Underground Assassination Sector

On October 4th, Chen Chi-li (陳啟禮), aka Lord Duck (鴨霸子), the one-time spiritual leader of the United Bamboo (竹聯幫), the largest gang in Taiwan, passed away in St. Teresa's Hospital, Hong Kong. He is well known to Taiwanese for his role in the oversea assassination of a Taiwanese-American writer Henry Liu in California (1984). Liu wrote a manuscript about the extramarital affair of then President Chiang Ching-kuo and was considered a rebel of the country. The assassination was ordered by KMT in the name of patriotism. In a case like this, Chen should have been treated by KMT as a national hero. However, after the contract was successfully carried out, KMT betrayed him and sentenced him to life in prison. Chen escaped to Cambodia to avoid life imprisonment and hid there until his death.

The death of Chen Chi-li not only marks a transition point of United Bamboo Gang, but also, more importantly, refocuses Taiwanese attention to the dirty, covert gangster-linked nature of KMT. The recently exposed yet another murder contract between KMT and a Hong Kong movie star, Jimmy Wang (Wang Yu 王羽), for the intended killing of Hsu Hsin-Liang (許信良) certainly stirred up the heat even more.

But there's more shocking news. Let me cited several paragraphs describing the origin of United Bamboo Gang first.

Taiwan's Dirty Business
The United Bamboo was founded 40 years ago by a handful of teen-aged sons of senior officers in Chiang Kai-shek's KMT army who had encamped in Taiwan rather than be crushed by Mao Zedong's advancing Communists. Disenchanted by the humiliation of their fathers, the young rebels joined forces to fight other gangs along Bamboo Forest Road on the outskirts of Taipei.

Lord Duck Is Dead
Chen (Chi-li) was born in 1943 in China and moved with his family to Taiwan in 1949. At age 17, he formed the United Bamboo gang with friends ... the United Bamboo gang was formed by a bunch of teenage students who were born on the mainland, oppressed by local Taiwanese people and got together to defend themselves.

Both articles describe that the reason the United Bamboo Gang was formed was nothing but gangster-style romanticism. If this is true, then we can fairly say that KMT later decided to "link to" this already existing gang and make use of their fire power for political use.

But "link to gangster", a knowledge that has long been recognized through available records, can't seem to describe the true nature of KMT enough.

When Chen Chi-li was indicted for his role in the oversea assassination, the attorney representing the victim's wife was the current DPP Presidential candidate Frank Hsieh. Certainly Hsieh was in the court with Chen Chi-li and had the chance to listen to what Chen Chi-li said.

In a news report (謝長廷：當時的政府要陳啟禮組竹聯幫) yesterday, Hsieh revealed:

"Chen Chi-li said in the court that the (KMT) government wanted him to organize the United Bamboo Gang, and the sole purpose is to kill those rebels. They (KMT) thought the anti-government people are weak, so it's possible to gather gangsters to organize United Bamboo Gang to handle these people. This is what Chen Chi-li said."
陳啟禮當年在法庭講過，「當時的政府要他組織竹聯幫，就是要對付所謂的叛徒，殺害這些人，他們當時認為黨外、民主運動人士沒有力量，很可能可以結合流氓，組織竹聯幫制裁、傷害這些人，這是陳啟禮自己講的。」

He went on saying:

"Chen Chi-li said it crystal clear, openly in the court, (it's the government) asking him to organize the United Bamboo Gang, and to extend their influence for the sole purpose of killing those people."
他說，「陳啟禮講的很清楚，公開在法庭講，叫他出來組織竹聯幫，擴大勢力，就是要殺害這些人」。

and

"Chen Chi-li described the organizing process in details in his confession and the audio recording. Because it's the (KMT) government who ordered the gang formation, it brought chills to the bone. So at that time nobody dare to say anything."
「他有自白、有錄音，把這經過講得很詳細，當時大家不敢講，看了大家會冒冷汗，是政府去組織黑社會。」

Hsieh also hinted that the reason the United Bamboo Gang could grow to be the largest gang in Taiwan is due to KMT's support.

What Hsieh revealed is a shocking news. After all, "has gangster link" is one thing, but "actively organize a gang for the purpose of murder" is a whole new story. Obviously, even after years of awakening, Taiwanese still haven't learned how dirty the true nature of KMT is yet. The United Bamboo Gang is not just a gang that KMT links to. In fact it is KMT's underground assassination sector.

------------------
More readings:

● More on the White Wolf
● The China Connection - How Crime and Politics come together ... again
● Ex-movie Star Claimed KMT Wanted Him to Kill Hsu Hsin-Liang
● Prosecutors launch investigation into Jimmy Wang `murder contract' case

Hsieh vs. Ma: A virtual presidential debate

Reason vs. mere rhetoric

In the post I wrote yesterday marking the 20th anniversary of the end of martial law in Taiwan, I quoted DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) explaining that forgiveness of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) past offenses against Taiwan (which -- be honest -- continue to this very day) shouldn't include giving them another chance to be Taiwan's stewards. Here's the quote once more:

"We can forgive a 'caretaker' who harmed our people, raped our daughters and stole our property, but we can never allow him to be the caretaker again."

The quote is back in the news today, having started a debate of sorts (in which the participants were in different locations at different times). Reporters who had heard tell of each quote then asked the relevant candidate's opponent for his response. Or something along those lines.

Hong Kong-born KMT candidate Ma "There's-a-seriously-decomposed-corpse-on-the-balcony-of-my-City-Hall" Ying-jeou (馬英九) -- who announced his candidacy just hours after being indicted for misusing his "personal allowance" while he was mayor of Taipei -- responded to Hsieh's comment with the same kind of logic one would expect from a man who rode a bicycle around Taiwan for ten days and informed the world via his personal blog about not wearing underwear while doing so. (Could he be a "Britney Spears" fan?)

The article -- in which Ma wishes people would just forget all about martial law in Taiwan -- relates it like this:

Ma slammed Hsieh for his remarks, saying he "was surprised to hear Hsieh speak ill of others, because Hsieh is religious."

Ma also challenged Hsieh's idea of "reconciliation and coexistence," calling it "hollow words."

Speaking truth to authoritarianism (whether one is religious, agnostic, or atheist) doesn't count as "speak[ing] ill of others" (造口業) -- a phrase which implies unjust criticism. In the case of Hsieh's description of the KMT, it's simply truth that must be told because of the vast media conspiracy that would prefer for the public to ignore the dark past (and present) and focus on such hollow words (如空話) as "handsome" instead. Hey, Ma "Informed-on-his-Taidu-classmates-during-a-time-when-that-could-get-them-killed" Ying-jeou, people called Ted Bundy "handsome," too.

But the KMT's double-standard-bearer (Ma) didn't stop there. Continuing to avoid logic at all costs, he actually buttressed the validity of Hsieh's criticism with this next bit:

"The fact that the KMT was bad in the past doesn't prove the DPP is good now," Ma said.

First things first: "[T]he KMT was bad," and that's a fact, Jack!

But just in case your head is spinning from Ma's non sequitur, let's break down the "logic":

The fact that noun A was adjective B in the past doesn't prove that the opposite of noun A is the opposite of adjective B now.

Replacing those with some words chosen off the top of my head, I come up with this: "The fact that the dog was furry in the past doesn't prove that the cat is hairless now." Or, "The fact that Hitler was evil in the past doesn't prove that [choose your own contemporary opposite] is benevolent now."

As you can see, the statement is utter nonsense.

Ma "Foolishness-doesn't-prove-anything" Ying-jeou, therefore, can't even prove his own assertion (that the DPP is not good) -- but he does bolster my assumption above that the DPP -- despite all its faults -- is pretty much the polar opposite of the KMT. No wonder he never passed the bar exam.

The beleaguered former Taipei mayor (Ma) stumbles onward while gazing at himself in the rearview mirror:

"The KMT has stepped down [following the 2000 presidential election] and has reflected on its conduct during the martial law period," he said.

They love to claim that they "reflect" (反省) -- in a genteel and inscrutable Confucian manner -- on the errors of their murderous ways, but we still have Ma "Singapore-is-a-good-model-to-follow" Ying-jeou spewing nonsense. If any such "reflection" had actually occurred, the die-hard KMT members would have returned their stolen assets to the people of Taiwan, donated whatever was left to the victims of the "228 Massacre" and subsequent White Terror, and perhaps even gone home to the "motherland" to be with the ones they love. Whatever! Hsieh says to stay here and enjoy the democracy earned on the backs of the Taiwanese if you want -- just don't expect the people who call Taiwan their motherland to want you to be their president.

Hsieh puts the final nail in the conversation with this alliterative verse:

Hsieh said the victims [of political persecution during the martial law era] should forgive their persectors but never forget.

"Those who forget history will be forgotten by history. Those who abandon history will be abandoned by history," Hsieh said.

"Those who have harmed others are in no position to ask their victims to forget."

I can't wait to see these two go head-to-head in a real debate on live television.

FURTHER READING: For Hanzi versions of what was said by the two candidates, try here, here, here, here, or here.

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Pros and cons: Taiwan, 台灣, Republic of China, 中華民國, DPP, 民進黨, KMT, 國民黨, Frank Hsieh, 謝長廷, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, democracy, 民主, 228 Massacre, 二二八大屠殺, freedom, 自由, martial law, 戒嚴, Taidu, 台獨, White Terror, 白色恐怖

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

"Gallup Taiwan" isn't Gallup at all

First the background
On December 5, 2006, Feiren commented on a Kathrin Hille article in the Financial Times. In that post, he sought the truth by asking, "I have always heard that Gallup Taiwan is notoriously blue and in any event has had a very poor record of predicting elections. Anyone know more?"

In a comment replying to that question, I wrote:

The Gallup and Sutton bits look to be the kinds of things which the more they're said, the more they're supposed to become true. I truly hate that kind of "reporting" in the run-up to elections.

The FT has clearly made such "attempts to influence the future" before. If you look at the links beneath "Editor's Choice" at the upper right of that page, there's a link to an article from November 6 titled "Taiwanese pleas for president to quit may succeed"
(also with a Kathrin Hille byline) which contains this wishful pan-blue thought about the soon-to-fail third attempt to recall President Chen:
- - -
[T]his time it has a chance of succeeding.
- - -

Funny how that didn't even come close to happening.

Michael Turton then demonstrated similar powers of observation, saying "Feiren, I've also heard that Gallup is pro-Blue as well."

Truth to the fore: Johnny Neihu gives us the scoop
The Gallup Organization wasn't having any of that. They told the tale in yesterday's edition of Johnny Neihu's Mailbag:

Gallup vs Gallup Taiwan

Dear Johnny,

I just read your piece from last Saturday titled "You love farce? Send in the clowns." Toward the end you commented on Gallup and polling results from the recent election.

Gallup did not do this work. We are the only owner of the Gallup trademark in Taiwan and in 100 other countries around the world. We had a licensee in Taiwan who used the name up until 2002 when we revoked the rights. The poll that has used our name is a counterfeit. The individual [Dr. Timothy Ting Ting-yu, 丁庭宇] or his organization does not have any rights in the trademark Gallup and any unauthorized use is infringement of our registered rights. We respectfully request a correction.

Chris Stewart

Global Brand Manager

The Gallup Organization

Washington

Johnny replies: Interesting. And there was silly me blindly assuming that Gallup Taiwan was in all good faith a branch of The Gallup Organization. After looking at samples of the wisdom of Dr Tim, I notice that this pollster spends a lot of time barracking for political positions and telling Taiwanese what they should think about politics instead of measuring what Taiwanese think about politics. I've said before that sociologists are vulnerable to conflating cheerleading with science, but this former National Taiwan University faculty member takes the cake.

That's pretty funny coming on the heels of someone arriving at Taiwan Matters! via a Google search asking "why is all the foreigner blogger in asia dishonest" [sic]. The most dishonest ones in this area are the pro-China media, as recently demonstrated by both Taiwan Echo and myself. Open your eyes, and you will see.

More updates
I've added an overblown translation/explanation to Feiren's post of a YouTube video about the China Times this past Thursday. If you didn't quite understand the video, check out the update.

I also passed on a YouTube video to Wulingren of Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) graceful concession speech after his showing in the December 9 mayoral election in Taipei. Keep an eye open for an update to his post.

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Piecharts: Taiwan, 台灣, elections, 選舉, Frank Hsieh, 謝長廷, media, 媒體, Kathrin Hille, 席佳琳, surveys, 民調, Timothy Ting, 丁庭宇, propaganda, 宣傳

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

UDN intern spreads malicious rumors in runup to Taiwan elections; unrelated: investigator runs amok

More video
Wouldn't you know it? Just before the big mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung, an intern for the pro-unification United Daily News was caught spreading malicious rumors.

The Hsuan Chuang University student posted messages on the SocialForce.org discussion board saying that he and his neighbors had personally received payment of NT$1,700 (US$52.62) as an incentive to vote for the DPP's mayoral candidate in Taipei, Frank Hsieh. Others participating in the discussion expressed doubt, but Chiu pretended to be someone who "had originally planned to vote for Hsieh" but said that he was dismayed because "buying votes was just what the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) used to do." The as yet unidentified Chiu insisted that his story was true and that he had personally received the money. Someone passed the information along to Hsieh's campaign office which, in turn, contacted the police.

The person posting the messages turned out to be Chiu Chien-lun (sp?) (邱健倫), a resident of Hsinchu who (wouldn't you know it?) wasn't even eligible to vote in Taipei. After being identified by the police, he posted an admission and a full apology on the site where the discussion occurred. As one would expect, the UDN denied any responsibility for the events, just as Chiu did before police confronted him. But the university making excuses for the student's violations of the law is rather inexplicable. [UPDATE: Here are the links to the original fabrication, the reiteration of the lie, and the admission/half-assed apology on the SocialForce.org site -- the first two being posted on December 5, and the last one on December 8.]

Fellow pro-democracy writer Jerome F. Keating has recently used the metaphor of "dogs [who] learn from wolves" to describe "dogs" like Shih Ming-teh who left the DPP to run amongst the "wolves" of the KMT. What else would explain a student from a Buddhist university working for an organization like UDN and doing such things?

Here's the video.



3'28" YouTube video: " UDN intern lies about DPP mayoral candidate"


Who will investigate our investigators?
An investigator with the Criminal Justice Investigation Bureau was accused by Taipei citizens of intimidation.

Reports on SET said that Hung Sheng-hsiung (ph) (洪勝雄) was going door-to-door in a pro-green neighborhood recently asking people about their political inclinations and berating the DPP for "corruption" and "ineptitude." Additionally, at least one person said Hung repeatedly tried to get them to admit that they had accepted money in return for voting for DPP candidates. The daughter of one of those who experienced these things said that when she identified herself to the investigator as a reporter, his attitude abruptly did a 180-degree turn.



1'42" YouTube video: "Investigator Hung Sheng-hsiung and voter intimidation"


This is precisely the kind of "justice" which former president of the Executive Yuan, Hsu Shui-teh (KMT) meant when he once said, "The courts belong to us." ("法院是我們家[國民黨]開的.")

As Keating implied in his recent article, today's elections will hopefully bring Taiwan a step closer to a day when the wolves are no longer in our living rooms or even at our doorsteps.

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Predators and prey: Taiwan, 台灣, media, 媒體, United Daily News, 聯合報, UDN, Democratic Progressive Party, 民主進步黨, DPP, 民進黨, Frank Hsieh, 謝長廷, Kuomintang, 中國國民黨, KMT, 國民黨, elections, 選舉, YouTube

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!