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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Ma stumps for Sean Lien, for 85 seconds
President Ma Ying-jeou, third right, stumps for Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien, second left, in Taipei last night.
PLANNING DISARRAY: The president first canceled street-canvassing plans and then appeared on stage for 85 seconds, but out of reach of microphones set up for Lien
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter
President Ma Ying-jeou （馬英九） last night canceled a plan to canvass in the streets for Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien （連勝文） and instead shared a stage with Lien to stump for him, but for only 85 seconds.
Ma, who is also KMT chairman, was initially scheduled to join Lien and Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin （郝龍斌） on a canvassing tour of a chic shopping district centered on the Sogo Pacific Department Store in Zhongxiao E Road and another one in Dunhua S Road last night, in the same format as the three did in Ximending （西門町） on Wednesday night.
At about noon, the KMT announced that the street-canvassing plan had been called off, to which Lien said he “appreciated Ma for being thoughtful.”
The KMT said Ma would instead give a speech for 5 minutes to 10 minutes at 7:40pm to drum up support for Lien on Longmen Square where the two roads intersect.
Ma must have taken into consideration that his joining in the canvassing tour could “hold up traffic or cause inconvenience to the public,” Lien said as he dismissed suggestions that he did not agree with the KMT about Ma’s involvement in his campaign.
Lien said he was really grateful to Ma for stumping for him.
“President Ma did not necessarily have to come [to help with my campaign], but he did. It’s very appreciated that [Ma] offered to help and many others volunteered to work on the campaign. I thanked them and was very moved,” Lien said.
Their visit to Ximending, which saw sporadic clashes between protesters and police and security officers when they beefed up security in the area, and the planned tour last night sparked anger among netizens before the announcement was made early yesterday.
“It’s Halloween and Friday night. If they insist on going to Sogo to solicit votes, it would not just inconvenience the public, but be a show of muscle,” a netizen said.
A netizen named Jones Huang said he suspected that the KMT was hoping for conflicts or people confronting Ma face-to-face to stir up partisan confrontations between pan-blue and pan-green voters, as a way to urge pro-blue voters to come out to vote.
“It is a despicable electoral strategy,” Jones Huang said.
At about 7pm, several dozen former highway toll collectors gathered at the square to wait for Ma’s arrival, shouting that Ma should step in to demand that Far Eastern Electronic Co deliver on its promise to get them new jobs after the firm won the bid to run the electronic toll collection system implemented in January.
They were blocked at a corner of the square by a roughly equal number of police, with more plainclothes guards and security officers moving around.
Ma arrived nearly on time together with Lien and Hau amid cheers, yet out of reach of microphones held by Lien’s campaigners, while several individuals were pulled away by security officers as they shouted: “[Ma] cares only about elections, not labor.”
Ma delivered short remarks for about just 85 seconds, urging the public to vote for Lien to preserve the district’s prosperity and to make Taipei a more international city.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
