The politicos and political commentators who have been quick to embroil the nation in another political spat after the horrendous flooding caused by Typhoon Fanapi should be ashamed of themselves, considering that residents in typhoon-affected areas are still suffering amid the damage caused by the heavy rains over the weekend.
Fanapi left behind serious flooding in townships in Pingtung County and Kaohsiung city and county, dumping over 1,000mm of rain on Saturday and Sunday, most of it falling in a six-hour period. While an evaluation and investigation into the terrible flooding certainly needs to be conducted, there is a time for finger-pointing and a time for action. The priority right now should be action, with the focus on assisting flood-affected residents to return to their normal routines and restoring the damaged streets as soon as possible.
However, some politicos and opportunists apparently see things differently. Seizing the disaster as an opportunity to attack Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the Democratic Progressive Party, they rushed to find fault with Chen and her government, claiming that the flood was the result of human errors and accusing Chen of failing to take precautionary measures against flooding.
However, the flood was the worst Kaohsiung City has suffered in 50 years, and why only single out Kaohsiung City when other areas, such as Pingtung and Kaohsiung counties, were also hit with massive flooding? Could the answer be that there is no election at the end of this year in Pingtung, and that Chen stands as the strongest candidate in the Greater Kaohsiung mayoral election?
Chen holds a seemingly insurmountable lead in the Nov. 27 mayoral race, according to the latest valuations projected by National Chengchi University’s Prediction Market Center. Its findings put her value at NT$68.90, well ahead of her Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) contender Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), whose value is between NT$14 and NT$16, and Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), running as an independent candidate, whose value ranges from NT$15 to NT$19.
While inspecting the Kaohsiung area yesterday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) made a rational remark, saying that now is not the time to trade barbs over who should be held responsible for the flooding. He added that a number of factors contributed to the disaster, including the fact that a huge volume of rain fell within a short period of time.
However, before the public lauds the president for being impartial and reasonable, they cannot ignore a rather distasteful picture — accompanying Ma on his inspection yesterday was Huang.
While the visit may be well intended and aimed at showing his concern for the flooded-affected residents, one also wonders if Ma harbors shades of political bias given that he was accompanied by the KMT candidate, who donned a campaign polo shirt emblazoned with her name painted in red.
If it is too much to ask that politicians show some level of empathy toward the flood victims, could they at least wait a while before they start to attack their political opponents? Indeed, it is downright pathetic that there are always some people who are shamelessly eager to build their personal gains on the expense of others’ pain and misfortune.
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