Politicians and monks play politics
Taipei (AsiaNews/Agencies) The entire nation stands ready and alert as voters prepare to go to polls on Saturday, March 20 to elect Taiwan's next president and vote on a controversial referendum on political relations with China. Meanwhile a Chungtai Buddhist temple in Puli (a downtown district in Nantou city) has become a center for fiery protests after one of the country's 4 most influential Buddhist masters, Wei Chueh, urged citizens to cast their ballots for the opposition party, Kuomintang (KMT), and to boycott the referendum called by current president Chen Shuibian.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has sent volunteers to keep watch over the temple, which was ordered closed for a month on March 15.
On Sunday March 14 over 100 persons gathered in front of the temple to protest against the Buddhist master, forcing 250 police officers to intervene to keep public order. Wei Chueh's open backing of the KMT party might well influence election results against the DPP party.
President Chen is said to have the support of voters in the south, while opposition candidate Lien Chan holds on to a majority in the country's northern regions. Meanwhile it is said to be a neck-and-neck race between both presidential candidates throughout the island's central provinces.
Taiwan has a majority Buddhist population of 8 million. During election campaigns, politicians (even those claiming to be atheists) made special efforts to win the support of Buddhist faithful by visiting their temples and kneeling down to pray before the religion's gods. Since last month, Chen Shui-bian (a self-proclaimed atheist) has visited more than 200 temples while Lien Chan (a Buddhist) visits about 5 a day. On Jan. 22 Buddhist Vice President, Annette Lu, went to 11 temples, while James Soong, the opposition's vice presidential candidate visited 5.
Meanwhile, both candidates and their parties continue to rustle up support from voters across the entire island.
On March 12 Chen Shuibian urged inhabitants of the small island of Kinmen a KMT strongholdto vote for the referendum, since they would be more exposed to danger during any future military strike in the strait's waters.
On March 13 the president was cheered on by a crowd in the southern town of Kaohsiung, where he holds on to a majority consensus. On the same day in Kaohsiung Lien Chan was able to mobilize 200,000 people for a nationwide protest. At 3.20 a.m. more than 2 million people shouted in unison: "Change presidents, save Taiwan!"
On Sunday March 14, Chen took part in a demonstration organized by Taiwanese Hakkas, the islands second largest ethic group which traditionally backs the KMT party. Chen has promised to defend and protect the group's interests, including financing a TV network in their own native language.
Meanwhile, accusations of corruption are weighing heavily on both candidates.
In an open letter, the vice president of Taiwan Pineapple Corp, Huang Tsung-hing, accused Lien Chan of having accepted a campaign contribution from him in 1998, a donation he said was worth 100 million Taiwanese dollars (2.5 million euro). At a Los Angeles press conference, the former president of Tuntex Group, Chen Yuhao, said Chen Shuibian and his wife, Wu Shuchen, lied about a DPP party donation. He said that he contributed 20.3 million Taiwanese dollars, while the party claims to have received only 10 million.
The presidential campaign has also sparked billions of dollars to be wagered on election outcomes. On March 3 justice minister Chen Dingnan told police to crack down on "president-betting", since such gambling activity could have a real influence on election results. (MR)
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