Ma Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九 in pinyin: Mǎ Yīngjiǔ) (born July 13, 1950) was elected mayor of Taipei, Taiwan, in 1998 and reelected in 2002. He is generally seen as a non-corrupt and charismatic politician, although some see him as overly-privileged treated by the media. He has been a teflon politician because he has been quick in shrugging off critics from his opponents. Some of his supporters also think him to be somewhat aloof because his insist on imperialism in bureaucracy.
Personal background
Ma was born in Hong Kong, then a British colony. When he was a year old, his family, supporters of the Kuomintang (KMT), fled to Taiwan making him part of the Mainlander subgroup on Taiwan. He earned a law degree from National Taiwan University in 1972. With a scholarship from KMT, he first acquired a master degree in law from NYU and then proceeded to earn a doctorate in law from Harvard University in the United States. He returned to Taiwan in 1981 to teach law.
Rise in politics
With his father's personal connections, he started working in the presidential palace under Chiang Ching-kuo within half year after he acquired his PhD. Later he became the personal translator of 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 had became the yongest 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. He was relieved of his post in 1996, reputedly because he proved too effective at fighting black gold political corruption within his own party. Ma then returned to academia, and most people at the time believed his political career to be finished.
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 honest, clean-cut image (and baby face appearance) helped him winning 51% of the vote. 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 splitted the pan-blue votes and allowed his former rival Chen Shui-bian 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 caused a great deal of anger against Ma when he tried to disuade the discontented Lien and Soong's supporters from rioting as the city mayor and as a KMT high rank member. It was evidenced by one famous scene in which he was pelted with rotten eggs from Lien and Soong's supporters.
Ma was able to repair this damage and in December 2002, Ma became the superstar of the KMT by easily winning reelection with the support of 64% of Taipei voters, while his DPP challenger, a novice polititian 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 this proved unfounded.
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. The flooding in metropolitan Taipei in 2004 also leads to the public questioning his leadership and caused slides in Ma's approval rate.
His 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 impartialed. There is great speculation that he and Wang Jin-pyng will assume leadership of the Kuomintang as their support bases are complementary.
During his administration years, Ma had many conflicts with the central government which includs the rate of health insurance and the water supply during the drought. His major contributions to the city includes changing the street names into Hanyu Pinyin, the spelling compatible with mainland China (as opposed to the Taiwanese-developed Tongyong Pinyin).
He is married with two daughters and is an avid jogger and swimmer.
See also
