Piggy banks part of Taiwan opposition's populist pitch

By Lin Yang Dec 10, 2011, 8:10 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) held a rally Saturday in Taipei to collect thousands of plastic piggy banks that it distributed two months ago to raise funds for next month's presidential election.

The idea began after a boy gave his piggy bank to the campaign on television, only to have the government declare it illegal because election law forbids minors from making political donations.

In response, the campaign started giving out plastic pigs in blue, red and orange in October for people to take home and deposit their spare change. Saturday was the deadline for 'the little pigs to return home to mama.'

By most accounts, the DPP's piggy bank campaign has been wildly successful for Tsai Ing-wen, its candidate for the January 14 election. Through the simple concepts of saving money and small donations, the party has been able to cement its support among its base and portray itself as representing regular folks who have seen little of the benefits from Taiwan's post-2008 economic expansion.

'Small donations, unlike corporate money, will not buy political influence over the public's best interest,' said Wu Ying-hsien, a 47-year-old small business owner who came to the rally with 1,200 Taiwan dollars (40 US dollars).

Many supporters who turned up, including Wu, drew vivid contrasts between the DPP and the ruling Nationalist Party, which they perceived as using corporate assets, cash and entrenched support to fund its campaign machine.

Feeding into that perception is a flurry of endorsements for incumbent Ma Ying-jeou from corporate leaders, such as Terry Gou, the chairman of Foxconn Technology Group, who credited Ma with steering Taiwan through the 2008 financial crisis and being good for business.

Ma presided over 10.5-per-cent economic growth in 2010 and the signing of a free-trade agreement with China that is currently helping Taiwan weather the global economic downturn. Taiwan was expected to grow at 4 per cent this year, according to most analysts' estimates.

However, the voters at the DPP rally, held in the shadow of the presidential palace, did not buy those figures.

'Those statistics are just numbers,' said Huang Chung-hao, 50, a social worker, who brought 3,000 Taiwan dollars in change. 'Unemployment is still higher than pre-crisis levels. Ma erected a lot of short-term fixes for the labour market that will fizzle out in the long run.'

In essence, Taiwan faces many of the same problems as other developed countries with manufacturing being transferred to China, stagnant wages and a widening wealth gap that is exacerbated by global economic weakness.

Although both candidates are soft-spoken and somewhat bland orators, Tsai has managed to run a close race against Ma's economic record by tapping into economic frustration, promising more social welfare benefits to the unemployed and those with low incomes, and calling for investments in new growth sectors.

Her campaign has also kept it tight by connecting her populist message to mass-marketing strategies, such as the piggy bank campaign. So far, the only response the Nationalist Party could muster was to criticize the DPP for wasting so much plastic.

At the rally, Tsai spoke in tune with her mass of supporters. 'We are all here today because we want change,' she said. 'We want a Taiwan that is an equal and righteous society.'

As she chanted, 'Our three little pigs are here to defeat the big beast,' the crowd jangled the change in their banks in unison.