The juxtaposition seems odd at first, but there is something notable about the tandem opening of major infrastructure in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
The World Games in Kaohsiung silenced naysayers who feared that the city might struggle in the face of public indifference to non-professional sports and feuding between Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and the central government’s Sports Affairs Council, which was reluctant to part with cash for the Games.
In the end the Games progressed smoothly, selling more tickets than even realists might have hoped. There is also a strong case to be made that the Games’ excellent opening ceremony helped to convince the public that these Games could be fun, dramatic and healthily nationalistic.
Opening ceremonies for athletics tournaments such as the World Games, the Olympics, the Paralympics and the Deaflympics have become so crucial to the tone and the marketing of these events that planning can take as long as the construction of the stadiums. These events are not only valuable for sports, but also serve as advertisements for whole cities and countries. The importance of flexible, dedicated and properly resourced organizing committees should therefore be obvious.
Meanwhile, two pieces of infrastructure in Taipei opened within weeks of one another. The first was the Neihu Line, from which opposition city councilors extracted mileage by attacking Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who was mayor when the line was developed.
The second is the Taipei Stadium, the main location of the Deaflympics and an imposing structure — though not as attractive as the World Games stadium. Squeezed into one corner of the public entertainment and sports block adjacent to Dunhua North Road, the structure is a reminder that, unlike Kaohsiung, Taipei can only develop within existing boundaries.
This is no excuse, however, for the news that the attached swimming pool, housed in an eye-catching building with a slanted roof, was not built to meet international standards and thus cannot hold serious competitive tournaments. There was certainly enough space to do so; reallocating land from the warm-up track on the corner of Dunhua North and Bade roads, for example, would have done the trick.
This act of ineptitude means that Deaflympics swimming cannot be held in Taipei, a ludicrous outcome that cries out for a Control Yuan investigation just as much as the MRT Neihu Line’s woes.
But the most interesting development in recent weeks involves a complaint by the director of the Deaflympics opening ceremony, theater director Stan Lai (賴聲川), who said red tape was impeding his work: “It’s been very hard to get the people that I want — not to mention the money that is needed. Everything is proceeding in a state of chaos.”
The ideology that underlay the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics was offensive — and certainly no less so than director Zhang Yimou’s (張藝謀) bigotry when reflecting on it — but give the Chinese credit where it is due: They treated Zhang like a prince and gave him everything he wanted.
If the Taipei City Government is unwilling or unable to do the same for Lai, those affected will not just be Lai himself, or the Games and their competitors, but also Taipei — and Taiwan.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administrations sit on their laurels in safe electorates when it comes to public works and infrastructure (Keelung City is a glaring example), but doing so ahead of the Deaflympics in a way that frustrates key staff and risks disruption and embarrassment is something even the catatonic voters of Taipei City might notice.
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