[May 01, 2011] Ambiguity marks Taiwan's first female presidential candidate's campaign Tweet TAIPEI, Apr 30, 2011 (The China Post - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Now the dust has settled regarding the candidates in the 2012 presidential election in Taiwan. It will be President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT) versus Tsai Ing-wen, the chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). By winning the primary within the DPP, the major opposition party known for its toughness, factionalism and radical ideology, Tsai, a female, a moderate politician and a relatively newcomer in the party, has achieved no small success, which indeed surprised a host of observers. Latest polls indicate she is running neck and neck with Ma. What an achievement for Tsai considering the fact that Ma is the incumbent president and enjoyed a landslide election victory barely three years ago. It has long been noted that the public actually know very little about Tsai, including her family, political advocacy and even her sexual orientation. This is a very rare phenomenon in modern democracies where politicians aspiring for high offices, particularly the presidency, are usually subject to the strictest public scrutiny. When one of the former DPP chairmen demanded an answer from Tsai about rumors regarding her sexual orientation, which he said was critical to the public judgment as to whether she was fit for the highest office in this land, he immediately became the target of fierce attacks from all sides, accusing him of invasion of privacy and "gender oppression." Nor did Tsai respond adequately to the questioning by her rivals of many of her political views. So what? Voters did not seem to care much about it. Some have asserted that Tsai's ambiguous and sometimes incomprehensible remarks about cross-strait relations are her Achilles heel. But, there is evidence that it may not be the case. A survey conducted by a major local newspaper showed that while 43 percent of those polled believed Ma is more capable of handling cross-strait relations than Tsai, who received only 22 percent approval rating, the respondents expressed almost equal confidence in both candidates regarding future cross-strait developments -- 48 percent for Ma and 49 percent for Tsai. This finding was intriguing as Tsai appears to disagree with Ma on all mainland policies. The same poll also found that 36 percent of the respondents believed Tsai has "guts," against 21 percent for Ma. How did the public get such an impression as Tsai had spent much of her career doing advisory work, not as an important decision-maker, in the government? This should be considered another mystery about Tsai. Local media generally predict that once becoming a presidential candidate, Tsai has to face significant national issues squarely and express her ideas and policies clearly. Those people probably will be disappointed again. They will realize that mystique and ambiguity are Tsai's political assets, not liabilities, because such traits allow the largest numbers of voters across the political spectrum to interpret her in accordance with their own perceptions and wishes. To see more of the Asia News Network, go to http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/ Copyright (c) 2011, The China Post, Taipei, Taiwan / Asia News Network Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]