Monday, March 24, 2008

PUBLIC IMAGE
Following the conclusion of the Taiwan Presidential election, coupled with the recent Edison Chen scandal, it had once again said so much about the importance of public image. Conscious or unconscious, celebrities worldwide, especially in the Oriental, have to juggle with upholding their public image and at the same time, maintaining their own private space.

The Edison Chen scandal had once again proved to the world that media and Internet have the ability to thwart anyone through their mere pervasiveness in the society. One might argue even a prominent public figure deserves their own privacy and a certain threshold whereby they can retaliate if invaded. Personally, I feel that, like what Mr Robert Kiyosaki wrote in Rich Dad Poor Dad, there is a price to pay for everything. You earn through your celebrated fame and thus, you are expected to uphold a certain image that you set out to portray.

Ever since the corroboration of the pictures in the infamous sex scandal, the female leads have since suffered severe backlashes. Ah Jiao have seen her sponsors withdraw their contracts for fear of the negative image associated. Cecilia Chung had caused family dispute and uproars with her scandalous images spread like wildfire in the internet reign. If we were to blame Edison Chen, I will rather say it’s the fault of the pervasive media. The media has always been a double-edged sword as it can effectively manipulates her audiences by scaling the magnitude of a report. In the recent Taiwanese elections, we have seen how Ma Ying Jeou and Frank Hsieh harness the power of the media in great extent to reach out to the greater public. Be it written or spoken media, they never fail to acknowledge that it is the fastest mean to garner the most audiences.

Speaking about the Taiwanese elections, I would say that the entertainment value had surpassed the political value in the eyes of a Singaporean. I say so as even for a 24 year-old adult who had voted in the General Elections, I had never witnessed such an intensive battle before. Though it has evolved to be a pointless battle where personal attacks prevailed, the freedom in speech had intrigued me a lot. It is much like an impossible sight in the local context.

To me, it was really more than a presidential election. People are looking up to MYJ as they had 8 years under DPP which is more or less indifferent to them. I was listening intently to Ms Lu Xiulian, outgoing Vice-Pres, on a tv interview session. She claimed that it was hard to venture into Mainland for any political or economical handshake with China. To me, it might be true yet still seem to be an excuse to cover up for her inability. I believe the Chen Shui Bian administration advocated independence and therefore, provoked China to be hostile. Soverignity and pride aside, is it so important to proclaim independence casting important issues like economy and people one side? I beg to differ in face of the rising inflation globally, credit crunch taking a toll on the global economy and weakening of the US dollar.

I guess the people are reacting to the lack of improvement ever since Chen ShuiBian took over from his predecessor. I am glad to say that in the local context, we are doing well, with increase in GDP every year and positive growth in various profitable sectors. Thus, will anyone really condemn or defame the local government as we enjoyed prosperity? I am afraid I will not. To quote desmond, we try not to fix anything if it aint broken. I think to add on, I will say even if it is broken, as long as we can get 2.5 month bonus every year, dun fix also. haha