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MA’S RE-INAUGURATION:
Taiwanese come together to protest
ONE VOICE: From weddings to funerals,
politicians to the general public, people came out to protest soaring prices,
government indifference and rising national debt
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter
Anti-government protesters hold a
portrait of President Ma Ying-jeou designed to resemble the kind used at
funerals during a march through the streets of Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao,Taipei Times
Part of the Democratic
Progressive Party’s march to manifest the public’s dissatisfaction with
President Ma Ying-jeou sets out from Wanhua train station in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
An activist protests against the
government in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Reuters / Pichi Chuang
People from all walks of life took to the
streets in Taipei yesterday to voice their dissatisfaction with President Ma
Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) governance.
A group of Hakka people held big black flags with calligraphy in white that read
yimin (義民, “righteous people”) as they marched. The flag is modeled on the black
flags used by Hakka militias who defended their home villages during an uprising
against the Qing Dynasty in 1786 and again when they fought against the Japanese
occupation of Taiwan in 1895.
“The flag symbolizes the Hakka resistance against injustice and the Hakka spirit
of defending our homeland,” said Lee Ting-kun (李廷坤), from Taoyuan County. “We’re
here today to tell Ma that most people are suffering in this country. We want to
survive and live happily. Isn’t this what the government is supposed to do for
us?”
Another group, from Greater Taichung, that stood out staged a mock funeral
procession.
Two men were dressed up as Taoist priests and performed funeral rites as they
marched, followed by people carrying big black-and-white portraits of Ma and
Premier Sean Chen (陳?) and an ancestral tablet for the deceased with Ma’s name
written on it.
“Doomed by the public, died without disease,” one placard read.
“Skyrocketing utility prices have aroused the anger of gods and men alike,”
another placard read.
A 66-year-old woman, Lee Chuang (李妝), wore a pair of hand-woven traditional
shoulder pads connected to a “halo” behind her head, and held a hand-woven flag
that read: “Step down.”
“This is the outfit of the goddess of mercy,” Lee told the Taipei Times. “My son
had a dream a few days ago in which the goddess of mercy told him that Ma should
step down to end people’s suffering, so he hand-made this outfit for me to wear
in the parade.”
Besides being worried about rising utility prices, Lee said she was also worried
that a rising national debt would increase the suffering of the next generation.
“As a mother, I’m really concerned that my children and my grandchildren will
have to carry the debts that Ma leaves them,” she said.
Many people who supported Ma during the presidential election also took part in
the demonstration.
“I regret voting for Ma. I regret it a lot,” one man said. “Ma had a different
attitude before his election. He acted as if he cared about the people before
the election, but now he doesn’t listen to what people want.”
The People First Party, normally seen as an ally of the Chinese Nationalist
Party (KMT), said on Friday it encouraged its members to take part in the
Democratic Progressive Party-sponsored protest on their own accord.
PFP spokesman Wu Kun-yu (吳崑玉) and PFP Taipei City Councilor Lin Kuo-cheng (林國成)
were spotted in the rally yesterday, chanting slogans calling on Ma to step
down.
“Ma should pay more attention to what people want; otherwise he is not suitable
to be the president,” Lin said.
Chen Che (陳哲), the host of the Facebook group “Let’s Meet Up on May 20”
(520我們不見不散), held up a sign that said: “Net friends, let’s meet up here,” .
“The Facebook group was created on March 18, because I think that, with so many
Internet users complaining about Ma, we should do more than criticize him and
his policies on the Internet. We should turn our dissatisfaction into action,”
he said, adding that two months after the online group was created, it has
attracted nearly 3,000 members.
Chang Chia-ling (張嘉玲), director of the DPP’s Department of Women’s Development,
also caught many people’s eye when she joined the rally at one of the assembly
points, outside National Taiwan University campus, in her bright red wedding
gown.
“I came directly from my wedding banquet,” she said. “I will remember this day
for all my life, not only because it’s my wedding day, but also because this is
the day when so many Taiwanese people have come out to tell the government that
we’re suffering.”
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