Dec 07, 2011

Taiwan: DPP Organizes Piggy Bank Protest


Symbolic of the Tsai Ing-Wen’s struggle against the incumbent President, piggy banks have become the emblem of the Democratic Progressive Party.  Organizers have called upon supporters to protest outside the President’s office, piggy banks in hand, on International Human Rights Day.

Below is an article published by Taiwan News:

The Democratic Progressive Party called on its supporters Tuesday to bring their piggy banks to a rally in front of the Presidential Office Building on December 10 [2011].

The piggy bank has grown into a symbol of DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen’s campaign for the January 14 [2012] presidential election. The party has distributed plastic piggy banks in various colors to supporters across the country. They symbolize the struggle of the three little pigs against the big bad wolf, the ruling Kuomintang, according to the opposition.

Whether or not people’s pigs were large or small, plastic or wooden, they should bring them to Ketagalan Boulevard next Saturday at 9:30 a.m., DPP spokesman Chuang Juei-hsiung told a news conference.

If the piggy banks were filled with coins, they could be exchanged for commemorative scarves, he said.

December 10 [2011] is also International Human Rights Day, traditionally an important day for the DPP.

Recent opinion polls have shown Tsai catching up with KMT candidate President Ma Ying-jeou, though others still show her several points behind. On Monday [5 December 2011], leading members of an association of hosiery manufacturers threw their support behind Tsai, the Chinese-language Liberty Times reported. Only last year [2010], the association supported Ma’s plan for an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China.

During last Saturday’s debate [3 December 2011], she criticized Ma for being an ineffectual leader and for allowing the gap between rich and poor to grow. She also pointed out his failure to realize his 2008 campaign promise of minimum 6 percent annual economic growth, maximum 3 percent unemployment and an average annual income of US$30,000.

On Saturday [10 December 2011] after the piggy banks event, her running mate Su Jia-chyuan will participate in a debate with the KMT’s vice-presidential candidate Premier Wu Den-yih and with Lin Ruey-shiung, the running mate for People First Party Chairman James Soong.

Tsai, Ma and Soong will have another opportunity to debate each other on December 17 [2011].