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EDITORIAL: Riding on
athletes’ coattails
Words of encouragement are always welcome; especially for individuals in a rut,
a simple phrase such as jiayou (加油, an expression equivalent to “keep going”)
could provide a timely catalyst to boost their morale.
More often than not, however, it seems that the nation’s politicians are more
adept at — as the Chinese idiom goes — adding “flowers to the brocade” (錦上添花)
than giving a gift of “charcoal in snowy weather” (雪中送炭).
The former, regrettably, appears to be the view held by many sports fans
regarding the recent visit by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign staff to
Taiwanese pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) in the US.
During the campaign team’s visit with the Washington Nationals player on
Saturday, Ma, in a recorded video message, praised Wang for his successful
return in late July to Major League Baseball. Ma gave a thumbs-up to Wang, who
he lauded as “the best example of the pride of Taiwan.”
It was certainly thoughtful of the president to give Wang some needed
recognition and congratulations for all his hard work and perseverance.
However, recalling Wang’s down time over the past two years as he recovered from
a shoulder injury he sustained in July 2009 when he was with the New York
Yankees, and in view of Saturday’s boisterous visit led by Deputy Legislative
Speaker Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) against the backdrop of the January presidential
election, many can’t help but wonder: “Where were these politicians when Wang
was not in the media limelight?”
This instance of politicians riding on the coattails of others’ success evokes a
strong feeling of deja vu. Just last month, Wei Te-sheng (魏德聖), the director of
the highly acclaimed film Seediq Bale, was invited by Ma to make a joint
appearance with him in a weekly video during which Ma heaped praise on Wei’s
hard work and dedication and lauded him for “introducing the wider world to
Taiwanese history via the film.”
As Wei has repeatedly told of how he had struggled, battling to find funding to
finance the filming of Seediq Bale, once again many can’t help but wonder where
Ma’s encouragement and support were when Wei was still struggling. It is amazing
how Ma was quick to jump on the Seediq Bale bandwagon by having the director on
his side for a video recording after Wei hit it big.
According to the campaign team’s itinerary, they also plan to visit Taiwanese
reliever Kuo Hong-chih (郭泓志) of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
However, there are more Taiwanese players than just Wang and Kuo who are
slogging away on the baseball fields of the US.
If Ma truly cares about the nation’s athletes and their well-being, he would win
more sports fans’ hearts and respect if he were to instruct his campaign staff
to visit and offer words of encouragement not just to Wang and Kuo, but the many
hardworking Taiwanese athletes who are still battling to achieve some name
recognition.
Only then can Ma be rid of accusations that he is only interested in exploiting
the fruits of other people’s labor.
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