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"Pay close attention to that man behind the curtain!"

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The President and the Premier

... or a couple of scaredy-cats?

An image from today's Liberty Times (自由時報):

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) (L) and Premier Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) (C) hold hands yesterday as they attend a ceremony for victims of Typhoon Morakot two weeks ago. -- hosted by ImageShack
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) (left) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) (middle) appear to be holding hands yesterday as they attend a ceremony for the people who died in Typhoon Morakot two weeks ago.
Photo by 黃佳琳 from the Liberty Times (自由時報)
(Click image to see the original article.)

NOTE: This has nothing to do with frequently-heard hints that Ma is gay, and I wouldn't insult gays by suggesting that either Ma or Liu are part of that community. This is about a president who tried just last Tuesday to give international media the impression that he and his cabinet are "strong leaders." Hint to Ma and Liu: You're doin' it all wrong.
Unhealthy relationships: , , , , ,

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

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Posted at 7:20 AM by: [Permalink]

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

DPP ECFA referendum ad

With free English translation by Tim Maddog

Taiwan's DPP has a great ad to enlighten the public about the lies being told by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) about an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) which his government insists will be signed with China. See what Ma says about "sovereignty," and compare it to the direct words of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) about "complete unification" [sic -- the correct word is "annexation" (併吞)]. Cringe in horror as you hear Taiwan's Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) "explain" why he can't talk about the details of this ECFA.

Here it is with English titles (original version below):


0:35 YouTube video: "DPP ECFA referendum ad - with English titles"

Here's the original version in Mandarin:


0:35 YouTube video: "DPP ECFA referendum ad"

For a more complete description (in English) and more links, go to the YouTube pages for either video (links below each video).
A peck of pixeled peppers for Peter Piper to pick: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

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Posted at 10:14 PM by: [Permalink]

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Trust the Chinese Nationalist Party?

Why not just add the word "not"?

During Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Mr. Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) presidential campaign, he used the double entendre 「馬上好」 (mǎ shàng hǎo) as a slogan. The phrase can mean both "Ma becoming president is a good thing" and "Things will be good soon."

It's not, and they won't.

The campaign was taking place at a time when, in contrast with constant pan-blue media reports to the contrary, Taiwan already had a very healthy economy. At that time, the news hadn't yet come out that during the first quarter of 2008 -- under the administration of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) -- Taiwan's GDP growth rate was a "better-than-expected" 6.06%.

Ma's campaign extended the slogan of "mǎ shàng hǎo" to imply that an even more immediate "change" would occur (although they failed to tell us in which direction that change would take us). One of the ads which used that slogan had someone lampooning former president Chen. In that commercial, a child's voice asks, 「那還要等多久？」 ("So how much longer will we have to wait [for things to get better]?"). The fake Chen replies, 「馬‧上就會好」 (mǎ shàng jiù huì hǎo), or "When Ma is elected, things will be better immediately."

See/Hear for yourself (video starts slowly):


0:20 YouTube video: "馬上就會好"

That's only what we said, not what we meant
A little over one month ago, I had already suggested my own variation on Ma's slogan. Now, even his team is realizing that they'd better backtrack.

Yesterday's news reported that Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) announced that 「馬上漸漸好」 (mǎ shàng jiàn jiàn hǎo) ("Things will gradually get better") will be the new slogan. He claimed that 「馬上」 is "just an attitude" (態度) and that the slogan is now being used by the DPP to "hurt the Ma administration." That might be a good excuse if the KMT hadn't come up with the slogan themselves.

Liu Chao-hsiuan changes Ma's tune - Hosted by ImageShack
Liu Chao-hsiuan (劉兆玄) helps Mr. Ma (馬英九先生) change his tune
(Image via SET's Talking Show [大話新聞])

For now, all I can do is (foolishly?) hope that the KMT doesn't do irreparable damage to Taiwan while they're in office -- as if they're not already well on their way to doing so.
Shapes of things to come: , , Mr. , 先生, , , , , ,

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

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Posted at 6:23 PM by: [Permalink]
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