Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Returning salmon or cross-strait sharks?

Huang Tien-lin 黃天麟

The tainted cooking oil scandal caused by Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) is perhaps the timeliest “National Day gift” Taiwanese could have given the Republic of China (ROC), this nation that does not seem to quite be a nation.

Newspaper editorials have condemned the Wei (魏) family who run the group as “rich, but cruel.” However, are they the only rich, but cruel family in Taiwan?

Groups call on Ma and Jiang to step down

Taipei Times

Activists clash with police during a protest in front of the Executive Yuan yesterday. The protesters demanded that President Ma Ying-jeou and Premier Jiang Yi-huah step down.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

Groups protesting what they called high-level governmental officials’ lack of political responsibility toward an adulterated cooking oil scandal yesterday clashed with police in front of the Executive Yuan, while calling for both President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) to step down.

Taiwan Adequate Housing Association president Huang Yi-chung (黃益中) said that the Executive Yuan’s plans to establish a food security office was “a joke” and the nation would be much better off if Jiang resigned from office.

Boycott represents Ma’s failings

Chin Heng-wei 金恆煒

This is a fresh tale of official practices, or perhaps of the actions of an inferior government.

When Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) asked National Development Council Minister Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) in the legislature if he was boycotting Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) products, Kuan answered: “I support a boycott and I have already taken action by not buying their products.”

Rumors are spread for a reason

Taipei Times Editorial

“A lie can travel halfway round the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” And to make matters worse, their effect on the electorate when an election enters the home stretch can be enormous — providing the undecided a defense, in Taipei’s case, to fall back on for not voting for a certain candidate. Lies are “lies” only when they have been proven wrong; until then, they are called allegations, or simply “rumors.”

An interesting example can show how people are easily duped, maybe willingly, by rumors citing neutral data, but accompanied by political aspersions.

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