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Yen Ching-piao is Yi-ge
repackaged
Thursday, Jan 07, 2010, Page 8
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has invited Non-Partisan Solidarity Union
Legislator Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) to be its latest spokesman for the economic
cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) that the government is eager to sign with
Beijing.
Arguing that Yen is someone who “uses ordinary language to communicate with
ordinary people,” Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said Yen
was suitable for the task as the ministry had been criticized in the past for
using “complicated” language to promote the planned pact. Premier Wu Den-yih
(吳敦義) also lauded Yen as “having a local air (本土味),” suggesting TV appearances
and other settings designed to promote the pact will speak volumes and have
traction with the government’s target audience.
Entertainers Chu Ko Liang (豬哥亮) and Pai Ping-ping (白冰冰) — both also known for
their celebrity appeal — are reportedly also being lined up to promote the ECFA.
Yen, a convicted criminal with a large grassroots support base, is known for his
affability, and there’s no doubt he would speak the language of the “ordinary
person” while chewing betel nut and mingling with the public.
Underneath the praise heaped on him by government officials, however, is a
disturbing message: If you support an ECFA, you will graduate from “local” to
“high-class.”
It appears the government has continued with the illusion that people opposed to
an ECFA are those with little education or low social status.
This disturbing attitude brings back the unpleasant memory of two comic strip
characters that the ministry created last year that were both offensive and
derogatory.
This government just never learns. Or could it be that it is so arrogant that it
is unaware its actions fuel perceptions of social superiority?
Many will recall the furor over the comic strip introduced in July to promote an
ECFA. The cartoon featured two stereotypical characters, Yi-ge (一哥), a
middle-aged ethnic Taiwanese man who speaks “Taiwanese Mandarin” and opposes the
ECFA, and Fa-sao (發嫂), a sharp-minded Hakka career woman with a dashing
educational background who supports the deal.
Yen resembles the profile of the notorious Yi-ge, even down to his ruddy
appearance. It may be just a coincidence, or it could be that Yen is just a
repackaged Yi-ge; either way, the government has again demonstrated that it is
missing the point: What, after all, is the substance of an ECFA?
A good product will sell itself. Likewise, a product that lacks substance won’t
secure support and endorsement, no matter who vouches for it.
The problem lies not in the lack of a spokesperson to promote the ECFA, but in
the fact that no one knows what it contains.
If the government pays lip service to this problem and remains secretive on the
pact’s contents, refusing to inform anyone on what it contains before it is
signed, then public unease will only increase.
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