Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Yilan Children's Festival tests Ma's credibility

Taiwan News Editorial

President Ma Ying-jeou and his rightist Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) have brought further doubt on the reliability of their political commitments by reneging on a public promise to support the revival of the popular and successful Yilan International Children's Folklore and Folkgame Festival (YICF).

The YICF was designed with children as the stars with performances of local and foreign children dance, musical and other performing arts troupes, water games and other amusements and all kinds of cultural and artistic exhibitions for the enjoyment of children of all ages.

Ma spokesman denies interfering with CNA content

Taipei Times

Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) yesterday said he would pen a protest letter to Freedom House over its latest report alleging he meddled with news content while at the state-owned Central News Agency (CNA).

The Washington-based political and human rights watchdog this week released a full version of Freedom in the World 2010 that included individual country reports.

Freedom House cites sovereignty woes

Taipei Times

A report released by US rights watchdog Freedom House on Monday said that although many Taiwanese are in favor of improving economic and trade ties with China, critics believe the government has made concessions on sovereignty, that cross-strait policies have developed too quickly and that the process lacks transparency.

On Jan. 12, the Washington-based Freedom House released the political rights and civil liberties scores for its Freedom in the World 2010 survey. Taiwan’s political rights rating improved from 2 to 1, but its civil liberties rating dropped from 1 to 2.

Ma living up to Web-created name

Taipei Times Editorial

Shortly after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) came to power in May 2008, the nation’s netizens came up with a new definition for the Chinese character huang (騜) to describe the new president. This amusing combination of the characters for “horse” (馬, Ma’s surname) and “emperor” (皇), actually seeks to make a serious point, by highlighting Ma’s seemingly absolute power, based on his Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) control of the executive branch and its majority in the legislature.

While some may find the reappropriation of this character silly, it nevertheless reflects netizens’ lingering concerns about one-man rule and the idea that “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

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