Ma Ying-jeou
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.Order: 22nd, 23rd-term Mayor of Taipei
4th-term Chairman of Kuomintang
Term of Office: December 25, 1998–present (Mayor)
August 19, 2005–present (Chairman)
Date of Birth: July 13, 1950
Place of Birth Kowloon, Hong Kong
Occupation lawyer
Political Party: Kuomintang
Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九; Hanyu Pinyin: Mǎ Yīngjiǔ; Wade-Giles: Ma Ying-chiu; Tongyong Pinyin: Ma Yingjiou) (born July 13, 1950) was elected mayor of Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China in 1998 and reelected in 2002. He was elected chairman of the Kuomintang by party members on July 16, 2005. He is ineligible to run for mayor a third time in 2006 due to term limits; he will likely be the KMT presidential candidate in 2008.*1
As Minister of Justice he was seen as viciously cracking down on "black gold", especially in his own party and government. His personal charisma has made him one of Taiwan's most popular politicians and he retains a following from citizens, which are primarily pan-blue.
Personal background
Ma was born in Hong Kong (Kwong Wah Hospital in Kowloon), then a British colony, to Hunanese parents. When he was a year old, his family, supporters of the Kuomintang (KMT), moved to Taiwan. Ma himself has claimed that his parents had already been in Taiwan before he was born, and his father was on assignment to Hong Kong when he was born there; it is not clear what assignment Ma was referring to. He is therefore part of the so-called "Mainlander" category of the populace of Taiwan. He earned a law degree from National Taiwan University in 1972. With a scholarship from the KMT, he first acquired a masters degree in law from New York University and then proceeded to earn a doctorate in law from Harvard University in the United States. Later, after he became a politician, Ma was accused by some Pan Green politicians of having spied on fellow students from Taiwan on behalf of the KMT regime during this period, a charge he denies. He returned to Taiwan in 1981 to teach law.
Rise in politics
With the personal connections of his father, Ma Ho-ling (馬鶴凌), he started working in the presidential palace under Chiang Ching-kuo within a half year after he acquired his S.J.D. Later he became the personal translator for Chiang Ching-kuo. Ma was promoted to the chair of the Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission under Executive Yuan at the age of 38 and became the youngest cabinet member of the ROC.
He was deputy secretary-general of the KMT from 1981 to 1988, for some time also serving as head of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), a cabinet-level body in charge of cross-straits relations. President Lee Teng-hui appointed him Justice Minister in 1993. Ma opposed modification of Article 100 concerning criminal law, which was used by the authoritarian ROC government to incriminate dissidents before martial law was lifted in 1987. He also opposed constitutional reforms that would have the ROC president elected directly by popular vote. He was relieved of his post in 1996, reputedly because he proved too effective at fighting black gold political corruption within his own party. After a short stint as a minister without portfolio, Ma returned to academia, and most people at the time believed his political career to have ended.
Mayorship
However, in 1998 the KMT, faced with no other credible candidates, did field him to challenge the then-incumbent Taipei mayor, Chen Shui-bian of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who was seeking re-election. His perceived honest and clean-cut image (and baby face appearance), as well as his Mainlander Chinese background in a city with a relatively high percentage of Mainlanders helped him win over Chen. In the 2000 Presidential Election, Ma remained loyal to the Kuomintang and supported its candidate Lien Chan over James Soong who had bolted from the party. The competition between Lien and Soong split the pan-blue votes and allowed his former rival Chen to win the presidential election with votes below 50% of the popular votes. This, combined with Soong's good showing and Lien's poor showing, incited a great deal of anger against Ma when he tried to dissuade discontented Lien and Soong supporters from rioting by appealing to them as city mayor and a high-ranking KMT member. It was evidenced by one famous moment, in which he was pelted with eggs from Lien and Soong's supporters.
Ma was able to repair this damage and, in December 2002, became the superstar of the KMT by easily winning reelection with the support of 64% of Taipei voters, while his DPP challenger, a novice politician Lee Ying-yuan, received only 36 percent. His solid victory, especially in light of opposition from both President Chen Shui-bian and former President and former KMT Chairman Lee Teng-hui, led many to speculate about his chances as the KMT candidate for the 2004 presidential elections, although nothing came of it.
Ma suffered some political damage as a result of the SARS epidemic in early 2003 and was criticized for not mobilizing the Taipei city government quickly enough. Flooding in metropolitan Taipei in 2004 also led to public questioning of his leadership and caused slides in Ma's approval rating.
During his administration years, Ma had many conflicts with the central government over such matters as health insurance rates and control of the water supply during the drought. Ma also was implicated in a scandal of Taipei Bank stock releases in 2003; however, the case was dismissed by the Taipei prosecutor after an investigation. He was strongly criticized by the opposing party for not allowing the ROC national flag to be flown along with a PRC flag during a cross-strait soccer match held in Taipei. Ma responded that he was merely following Olympic protocol, which only officially recognizes the Chinese Taipei Olympic Flag, and forbids ROC national flags from being shown in an Olympic Game Stadium.
His initiatives in administering the city of Taipei include changing the transliterations of street names and the Taipei Rapid Transit System's line and station names into Hanyu Pinyin, the spelling compatible with mainland China, as opposed to the Taiwanese-developed Tongyong Pinyin. Ma has expressed mild support for Chinese reunification and opposition to Taiwan independence. He opposed the 2004 referendum, which had been widely criticized by the U.S. and PRC. Nevertheless, his opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China (while other leaders of his party remained silent on the issue) led him to be banned from visiting Hong Kong to make a public speaking tour in 2005. He also criticized the PRC for the Tian'anmen crackdown.
Ma's cross-political following has led some to note him as a rare example of relative civility in Taiwanese politics. In recent years, Ma has increasingly employed Taiwanese (Hoklo) in public speaking, perhaps to avoid backlash for his parents' mainland origin, and he has called himself a "child of Bangka (Wanhua)," identifying himself with the historic district of Taipei where he grew up. However, others claim that Ma's mainland Chinese ancestry will further alienate members of the KMT who are "light-blue" vs. the pro-unification "dark-blue." Ma's critics claim that Ma, in overeagerness to appear unbiased and/or neutral in disputes, has been overly indecisive. Among these critics, Ma has been referred to as "non-stick pan" or "Teflon-man."
Election to KMT Chairmanship
Ma's prestige increased after the loss by Lien Chan in 2004 ROC Presidential Election as he is widely seen as the natural successor of Lien Chan. His handling of the post-election demonstrations of the Pan-Blue Coalition, in which he at one point sent riot police to control the demonstrations of his pan-blue party supporters, was generally seen as impartial. In 2005, Ma and Wang Jin-pyng were candidates in the first competitive election for KMT chairmanship. On 5 April 2005, in an exclusive interview with CTV talk show host Sisy Chen, Ma said he wished to lead the opposition Kuomintang with Wang, if he were elected its chairman, as their support bases are complementary. On July 16, 2005, Ma defeated Wang by a 72% to 28% margin, a margin larger than anticipated by either camp or news sources, despite Wang's receiving a last-minute endorsement by People First Party (PFP) chairman James Soong, who had retained significant following within the KMT. Some, particularly the supporters of Wang Jin-pyng, accuse Ma of unfairly implying that Wang is involved in "black gold" and criticized Ma's aides for being rude to Wang during the campaign. After the election, Ma has stated repeatedly that he wishes Wang to remain as first-ranked deputy chairman. Wang, however, has so far rebuffed the gesture, instead stating that he wishes to serve as "permanent volunteer." Wang has, indeed, accepted a party post that is incompatible with vice chairmanship, effectively ending the possibility that he would be vice chairman, although after meeting with Wang, Ma has stated that he would "leave the position open" for Wang. Ma has also repeatedly stated that he has no plans to resign from the Taipei mayorship, even after he formally took over the chairmanship from incumbent Lien Chan during the 17th Party Congress of the KMT in August 2005.
Three-in-one election, Dec 3 2005
Led by Ma Ying-jeou, the Kuomintang made a resounding win in the three-in-one election held on Dec 3, 2005. KMT gained 6 more seats in the mayoral/magistratical race, from 8 seats in the last election, to a total of 14 seats. Before the election, Ma swore that he would quit chairmanship if KMT could not win over half of the seats, first ever from the mouth of a KMT chairman. It was a decisive win for KMT since Ma Ying-jeou took over the party chairmanship only 110 days ago. KMT won back the counties of Taipei and Yilan, and the city of Chiayi, which were Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)'s strongholds for over twenty years. It is the first time in many years that KMT regained popularity as far south as Cho-Shui River (Zhuo-Shui River). Quoting again his famous quote, Ma said, "we should only be excited about it for one evening." (Then we should go back to work).
Personal
Ma is married with two daughters and is an avid jogger and swimmer. .....*2
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References
*1. Wikipedia. 'A profile of Ma Ying-jeou," "A search of 'mayor ma ying-jeou' on the Google.com," (January 2, 2006), Mountain View, California: Google.com
*2. Ibid.
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