The truth is that I don’t know much about Taiwanese politics, and I’m learning. I try to keep myself connected to Taiwan by reading news and talking to my parents, but I often shift to those entertainment news above all other topics. Talking to my parents really is the only way that I am connected.
So I’ve been following the election for the last few weeks, and I must say I’m glad to see the election results: 馬英九當選!! (The Nationalist party a.k.a KMT won! Ma won!!)… I suppose this is enough to express my political stand. Anyway, it is annoying that it was really difficult to find objective articles to read about. In addition, it was almost inevitable to read negative (and often unrelated) news articles about the candidates and their extended families. Like all other countries, we now have to research about the media companies before we read their articles, and we have to always take what we read with a grain of salt. Not sure what everyone else thinks, to me it’s a lot of work. I understand that it’s very difficult to be objective, but news media nowadays seem to use the “newspapers” to include propagandas in the news section.
I tried only reading positive news about the election, and I did find enough to keep myself occupied. One thing that really caught my curiosity was actually Ma’s family. His wife 周美青, and his daughters 馬唯中(Lesley WeiChung) & 馬元中 (Kelly YuanChung). It’s common knowledge that to run for the president, one has to make his/her private life transparent, including those that s/he loves, and I think they’ve handled the situation fairly well. Their lives are very unknown to the public until the election phase, the mother works in a bank and the two daughters currently work/study in the US. Having his daughters in the US apparently was a huge patriotic issue, which I can not comprehend! My parents, like all parents of my immigrant friends, sent their children abroad so that we can be exposed to the (so called) more advanced western culture, be immersed in different values and gain “global vision”, and to learn new language(s). And I believe that it is with such experience that we might be able to take part and help Taiwan move forward! Personally, being in Canada for the last 13 years has made a huge difference. Although I don’t have any plan to move back to Taiwan, I have been thinking about what I can bring back to Taiwan from my experience. I’m not going to run for the president or anything remotely close to that, but I still love Taiwan and I see opportunities where I can be useful. I feel that it’s because of my experience abroad that I am ABLE to make certain contributions. I feel that it’s because of my parents sending me abroad, risking their money that they earned in Taiwan and sacrificing our family time in my teens that created a different “me” that can have the opportunity to do something for Taiwan down the road. It’s a privilege that my parents have given my sisters and I, it’s a privilege that all these parents have given their children, and I think it is a privilege that Taiwan will receive!
I look forward to the new government and new policies, and I look forward to my opportunity to make a small difference some where down the road.
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