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Home Editorials of Interest Jerome F. Keating's writings As the World Turns in Taiwan: Yeh Ching-chuan 2009

As the World Turns in Taiwan: Yeh Ching-chuan 2009

Typhoon Morakot and the Dalai Lama's subsequent visit were not the only newsworthy items happening recently in Taiwan. In Hualien, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held its primary and former Department of Health Minister, Yeh Ching-chuan was left as a clear loser. While some jokingly expressed the thought that "it couldn't have happened to a nicer weasel," others pondered what it might be saying politically.

Was it a rejection of Ma, since Yeh was one of his favored sycophant candidates? Were the voters finally developing a sense of picking whom they felt was the best candidate for them and not just accepting what was directed from on high?

Yeh was known for participating in fighting the SARS epidemic when it struck Taiwan though he was never one of those sequestered in the hospitals. That was years back and others remembered his more recent sham performance at the World Health Assembly. There he tried to convince people he "loved" Taiwan and was one of its loyal adherents though he cared little whether it be listed as a province of China or not. Others were suspicious why the "Ma acclaimed" hero of the SARS battle was leaving his post as Minister of Health to enter a political primary at the very time that he personally admitted the H1N1 virus was spreading like wildfire.

What"s your thought? Could it not have happened to a nicer weasel? At least after losing Yeh said he would not come limping back to the Department of Health. As the world turns in Taiwan, who knows where he will turn up next?

Source:
Jerome F. Keating's writings



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Newsflash


Dai Lin, a member of the Northern Taiwan Anti-Curriculum Changes Alliance, holds up a black umbrella at his home in New Taipei City in an undated photograph to represent the government’s opaque “black box” changes to the high-school curriculum guidelines.
Photo taken from Lin Kuan-hua’s Facebook account

A student who had campaigned against the Ministry of Education’s controversial adjustments to high-school curriculum guidelines was found dead yesterday in an apparent suicide at his family’s residence in New Taipei City.

Dai Lin (林冠華), a member of the Northern Taiwan Anti-Curriculum Changes Alliance, was found dead by emergency workers who were summoned by his mother after her son failed to respond to calls outside his bedroom, the New Taipei City Fire Department said. After police arrived and broke down the door, they saw Lin lying in bed with a pan of charcoal lighted on a nearby desk, in an apparent suicide.