The Rise of a Minority Candidate to National Leadership—
§ Background
There are four major communal groups in
Among these groups, Hoklo are those whose ancestors immigrated to
The split between communal groups in
In 1949, the Nationalists lost its control over mainland
After the retreat, the Nationalists froze the Constitution and instead imposed the martial law in
During the martial law period, there were many restrictions on “Taiwanese” (Hoklo and Hakka) people’s rights to participate in politics and elections, and the mainlanders monopolized the political scene. Democratic elections only took place on the regional level. On the national level, only a small number of legislative seats was open for election, and most lawmakers could stay on for a lifetime. Meanwhile, the president was indirectly elected by the representatives in the National Assembly, and he was free to run as many times as he wanted. Under such conditions,
The mainlanders’ privileged status and their conflicts with other communal groups gradually made them targets of resentment for many Hoklo and Hakka people.
Political reform finally saw daylight in 1989 when thousands of students took to the streets and demanded change. In 1991, the National Assembly amended the Constitution and stipulated the comprehensive reelection of national legislatures in 1995 and the election of the president by popular votes in 1996. The changes came about under Nationalist President Lee Teng-hui, who belongs to the Hoklo communal group. Lee eventually won the first direct presidential election in 1996 with 54 percent of popular votes.
In 2000, the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP’s) Chen Shui-bian defeated a split KMT in the presidential election with 39 percent of popular votes and brought about the first power transfer in
§ The 2008 Election
Chen Shui-bian completed his two-term presidency in 2008. The KMT picked Ma Ying-jeou[2] to run against the DPP’s Frank Hsieh[3] in the presidential election. Ma has a doctorate degree in juridical science, or SJD, from Harvard, and he became a secretary to late President China Ching-kuo after he completed his study in the
It seems that in
To win support from the majority of Taiwanese people, Ma had to eradicate his stigma as a mainlander. He adopted the following strategies during the presidential campaign to overturn the unfavorable situation he faced:
1. He called himself “New Taiwanese” and avoided mentioning his mainlander identity.
Ma foresaw in an early stage in his career that his identity would be a problem. To address that issue, he has been taking weekly classes to learn to speak Hoklo and Hakka dialects since at least ten years ago. Further, with the endorsement from former President Lee Teng-hui, he started calling himself “New Taiwanese” in 1998 when he ran for
2. He handled the 228 Incident astutely.
During his term as justice minister, he showed great sympathy for people who lost families in the 228 Incident, and helped them claim compensations from the state. As
3. He visited the countryside frequently and created an image of being affable.
Since he announced his candidacy on Feb 14, 2007, Ma frequently canvassed at the grassroots level and communicated with voters face-to-face. To get closer to voters, Ma held many small meetings and communicated with people in Hoklo or Hakka directly. He even used ten days to cycle around the island and travelled 675 kilometers, going from
4. He highlighted his economic platforms, and evaded political issues.
Ma spent a lot of time coming up with his white paper, and the most important part is about
5. He bolstered his clean image and attacked the government on its scandals.
Ma’s greatest asset since he started his political career is his clean image. As justice minister, he cracked down on corruption and drugs, and he eventually resigned when he felt the Cabinet had failed to improve public order. The majority of Taiwanese people appreciated his integrity. During his presidential campaign, his staff compiled a detailed list of DPP scandals during its time in power, and the KMT lawmakers use the information to attack the DPP. At the same time, Ma repeatedly highlighted his clean image in the hope to form a sharp contrast to his opponent. Ma packaged his negative campaigning cleverly in a positive tone, and successfully led voters to feel unhappy with the DPP.
6. He adopted a more aggressive approach toward
To avoid being seen as an ally to the Chinese Communist Party, Ma voiced harsher criticism than the DPP did when it came to
§ Conclusion
Ma’s campaign strategies proved to be effective after he won the presidential poll on March 22 with 7,659,014 votes, or 58.5 percent of all popular votes. His opponent Frank Hsieh got 5,444,949 votes. Ma’s winning of 58.5 percent of popular votes is also a record high for a presidential candidate since
Ma’s victory brought
Ma was indeed very good at campaigning. But you may wonder how he has been doing since taking office.
Let numbers tell the story. It’s now only a bit over four months since Ma took office on May 20, but his approval rating has plummeted to 23 percent according a recent poll conducted by
[1] The Memorial Foundation of 228 Web site http://www.228.org.tw/history228_general.php?id=60
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Ying-jeou
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hsieh
限會員,要發表迴響,請先登入
- 4樓. 魔師帆正東2008/12/24 09:17緊張、緊張
‧
﹝吳敦義﹞將是 戰鬥內閣 的閣揆,這從
《霹靂神州(二)‧蒼玄泣》的劇情就可看
出!
--
棄天帝 : 吳敦義 飾武林盟主 玄貘 : 劉兆玄 飾
玄貘部下 棘狼 : 魔師傲神州 飾
藏青雲地 神柱 : 史亞平 飾
~
請看以下YouTube的影片
-
劇情簡介:
玄貘在中原群俠缺乏有力領導人的情況下,
挺身而出守護神柱。在﹝藏青雲地大戰﹞之
前,更得到【東海劍宗】兩名劍客加盟,成
為武林盟主指日可待。
卻沒料到,藏青雲地的上空風起雲踴。玄貘
驚覺不對,已來不及阻止神柱崩斷!
緊張、緊張、刺激、刺激!允文允武的棘狼
已經預料到﹝吳敦義﹞會崛起,魔師傲神州
來得及阻止棄天帝的野心嗎? .. 繼續閱讀=
延伸閱讀:
要相信老母娘是唯一正法 - 3樓. 魔師帆正東2008/12/12 09:10
- 2樓. jessicasun2008/12/08 23:55考英文喔
哇哩咧,考英文喔,不過,硬是要得! - 1樓. 魔師帆正東2008/12/04 10:14Good!
‧
中共、台灣都互不為難了,台灣朝野的藍與綠
,應該團結一致 ─ 支持 劉院長!- -
引用文章:「 擬妥成績單 來不及求援 」
陳樹在辭呈生效前,曾細數政績多達三大張。沒想到求援
的文件尚未遞出,已迫於情勢黯然下台,只能徒嘆「時不
我予」。
現在要求【內閣改組】的聲浪越來越大,例如:歐巴馬說yes
馬別說不能、內閣改組幅度要大。'
劉院長 應效法 孟嘗君,廣邀各路豪傑 擔任顧問,才能暫
時止住各界的聲浪。我認為【劉內閣】不需要大幅改組。內閣成員們
已經從剛上任時的略顯青澀,轉變為現在的漸入
佳境!
尤其消費券的推出,更是造成了一陣轟動。我認
為內閣其實不需要大幅度改組,只需再增聘一些
顧問即可。
- . -同是酷愛武俠人
魔師突出刀槍鳴
使命必達六三三
馬上翻作漸好行
要相信老母娘是唯一正法