Anti-Chen, pro-China brainwashing in the era of Ma Ying-jeou

Not even 5 months into the Ma Ying-jeou presidency, many hideous things have appeared in Taiwan, one of which is an English test that amounts to brainwashing. The test was given to second year students at a National (國立) senior high school in Changhua while their brains were in a vulnerable state from cramming for the mass of big exams. Talking Show (大話新聞) lets us see the test questions with our own eyes.

Here are the ones that merit close attention:
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8. Chen's popularity as a political figure started to plunge in May 2006 after a _series_ of scandals involving his wife and son-in-law broke.

9. The president refuted the magazine's report through a lawyer, _claiming_ that he and his wife couldn't have hidden the money overseas. However, most of the citizens didn't believe what he said.

10. The Department of Health announced that the government will _establish_ a permanent communication channel with Beijing authorities in order to jointly safeguard consumers from tainted food items.

[...]

12. In the beginning, Chen Shui-bian denied everything, but at last he _admitted_ that he had remitted part of the government contribution to his presidential campaigns abroad after Credit Suisse brought his alleged money laundering to light.
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Host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) asks Chung Nien-huang (鍾年晃) what he thinks. The response is that it sounds more like an "ideology test" than an English test.

Notice how sentence number 6 ends with something about "telling the truth" and that sentence number 7 reads "Teachers and parents must act ethically and do the right thing to be good role models for their kids."


That sounds nice, but look what kind of "role model" the teacher of these students is...

Sentences 8 and 9 come from this editorial in the anti-Chen, pro-KMT China Post:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/editorial/taiwan%20issues/2008/10/03/177120/DPP-m...

Sentence 10 comes from this article in the anti-Chen, pro-KMT China Post:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national%20news/2008/09/30/176717...

Sentence 12 comes from this article in the anti-Chen, pro-KMT China Post:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national%20news/2008/10/07/177610...

Y'think the students were assigned these particular China Post propaganda pieces for homework?

Remember this: Chen Shui-bian hasn't been convicted on any charges.

Elsewhere, new reference materials to accompany textbooks assigned by municipal junior high schools in Taipei are referring to Taiwan as a "special region of China":
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/10/16/2003426059

Although the publisher has taken steps to "correct" the information (to what, I don't know -- it could be "province of the ROC"), take a look at how much "responsibility" is taken by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) leader of Taipei:
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Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the city government was only responsible for screening textbooks, and the content of the references was not its responsibility.

I take full responsibility for the quality of textbooks, but references are not within our authorities, Hau said.
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"[N]ot within [their] authorities [sic]"??! Then how is that taking "full responsibility"? While he may not be responsible for what is contained in the reference book itself, he *is* responsible for it being used in Taipei's municipal schools.

Tags: Taiwan 台灣 Cheng Hung-yi 鄭弘儀 Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 brainwashing 洗腦 Talking Show 大話新聞 Taiwan Matters 台灣時事

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[Toleh]

Holy Crap~  Taiwanese version of Bill O'Reily Show. Taiwan in term of political structure is fairly dysfunctional, because there is no proper opposition party.

[TimMaddog]

Uh, no. Bill O is a lackey for big money and warmongers, but Cheng Hung-yi tends to favor things like democracy and human rights. Very different.

Tell me this: What is your idea of a "proper opposition party" in Taiwan?

[Toleh]

he role of an opposition party is to oppose the government by criticizing government policies, suggesting alternatives and keeping the public informed about issues relating to government administration.

The word, "alternative" and the phrase, "keep public informed" are what the current DDP lacks.

[TimMaddog]

I hope I chose the most representative of the 8 comments you left within 17 minutes. I also approved a separate one since it was a little different.

Anyway, next time, try a little patience.

"Talking Show" is one of the very few shows in Taiwan where DPP members get a fair chance to "keep the public informed." How is that show anything like Bill O? Cheng Hung-yi isn't yelling "Shutup!" at his guests or calling them "pinheads."

[Toleh]

err....... about that eight comments..... didn't know that i sent that many, but it seems there is some technical issue at my end.

The "Talk Show", I am afraid is fairly bizarre (just like its counter part, "2100 Forum" or some sort), because these shows only pitch to the certain groups of audience, and so the the guests on the show will only be suited to these audience.

[TimMaddog]

No, Talking Show is *nothing at all* like 2100, I'm glad to say. Lee Tao, the host of 2100 has a standard of "2 right out of 10 is good enough for him."

There's nothing wrong with having guests targeting a certain group (and if Talking Show does this, how the hell is the KMT's Chen Ming-yi ever on there?). The main point is to be honest.

So far, your arguments have been closer to Lee Tao's standards. That's what I find "bizarre."

More facts and better logic, please.

[kehwa]

All the best to Taiwan. I hope they will see better days.

[zzztop105]

On balance, the test should have included the following:

1. Ma Ying-jeou has broken every promise he made during campaign and should be impeached.

2. Ma embezzled public fund as Taipei mayor. He should be sentenced for 7-year imprisonment for committing the crime.

3. Ma should be tried for treason for selling out Taiwan.

[Toleh]

In Canada, an opposition party is a political party with members elected to the House of Commons or legislative assembly that is not the government party nor one of a coalition of parties forming the government.

The role of an opposition party is to oppose the government by criticizing government policies, suggesting alternatives and keeping the public informed about issues relating to government administration.

[vivian333999]

Ma Ying-Jeou can go fuck himself

[filination]

Dear God. :D