Nothing could serve as a better example of wasted taxpayers’ money than a TV spot recently sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) to promote the dignity of the Republic of China’s (ROC) national flag, utilizing the tag line “Wherever the national flag is initially located, [it should] remain there.” Apparently the government has not heard of “leading by example.”
If the government had some foresight, and not only deep pockets, it could have avoided making itself a laughingstock by promoting the message to safeguard the national flag from the first day of its tenure, a gesture that comes as second nature for any governing power that takes its nation’s sovereignty seriously.
The TV commercial appears to have backfired. While it seeks to convey a positive image of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government for upholding the dignity of the ROC national flag, it has instead served to remind the public of how unreasonably it has treated people who wave national flags whenever Chinese delegations visit.
For example, recall how the government restricted the public from expressing their love for the ROC flag when Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) visited in November 2008. People waving the national flag were roughed up by police, who boorishly snatched the flags away. Some even had their flag poles snapped in half and their fingers broken.
Halfway through the MAC-sponsored TV commercial, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) face pops into view with a voice-over saying: “Of course the Republic of China is a sovereign country.”
While it may be the council intention to reinforce Ma’s image as a stern head of state asserting the ROC’s sovereignty, it instead reminds viewers that Ma, during his tenure as Taipei mayor in 2002, dissuaded sports fans from displaying ROC flags at the Asian women’s soccer championship.
If Ma doesn’t have the spine to address himself as the ROC president to Chen’s face, how convincing does the Ma government think the TV ad will be with the public?
According to MAC Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛), the TV spot was inspired by an incident early last month in which officials from the Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation asked Kainan University students to take down their 1m high national flag at a game between the Taiwan University All-Stars and China’s Tianjin Polytechnic University.
While Lai’s remarks come as a slap in the face of Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who said at the time that the incident was the result of “some people deliberately provoking disputes by using the [ROC] flag,” they also led many to wonder why the MAC is trying to glorify the national flag at this time — just over a week before the Nov. 27 elections — even though it chose to ignore police officers’ offensive treatment of people flying the ROC flag in the past.
If the Ma government were sincere about upholding the dignity of the ROC national flag, it should keep running the TV spot during Chen’s visit to Taiwan next month. Better yet, when Chen visits Taiwan, his motorcade should be decorated with ROC flags and he should be given an ROC flag as a gift from the nation. Only then would the Taiwanese public be convinced that the Ma government is not just paying lip service with taxpayers’ money.
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