The Leap Years (After note)

Taiwan's presidential election 2008 had brought to a closure. Ma Ying-Jieu won by 16% majority vote (58% versus 42% for Frank Hsieh).

Ah Long should be one of the happiest persons on earth. He wanted the sky to change colour from Green to Blue. Now the sky has turned blue as he wished. 58% blue. This is another moment of democracy. The thrust of democracy.

水能载舟亦能覆舟.

The two presidential candidates had adopted gentleman approach after the result was released. They not only showed greatest respect to the wishes of Taiwanese, they also showed greatest mutual respect towards their opponent. To me this is already a great leap of democracy of Taiwan as compared to the previous elections.

Ma Ying-Jieu didn't write off DPP. In deed he gave credit to DPP who has contributed to the democracy movement of Taiwan, '这次的选举，大家当然有许多批评，甚至有许多的火花，但是我们从来不敢忽视民进党在过去的几十年当中对台湾民主、台湾进步的贡献......不论输赢如何，我们同感骄傲.民主自由是台湾最珍贵的资产，我们生活在其中平常也许感觉不到，但一旦到关键时刻，民主自由所展现的力量是沛然莫之能御.这是台湾最大的资产，也是台湾最迷人的资产.' Ma Yin-Jieu phrased his opponent for his frank and gentleman politician style.

Frank Hsieh admitted defeat, '台湾选民已经用选票作出决定，我接受败选的事实.我在这里要恭喜马英九先生和萧万长先生...民主包括结果，也包括过程，过程难免有争议，但是我们接受，不愿再有抗争，让我们的社会非常迅速地能够修补因为选举所留下来的裂痕，让我们的人民能够很快地生活在爱与信任的环境里面.'

Walked to the end of his political journey, Frank Hsieh showed the strongest part of his character,'这是我个人的挫折，不是台湾主体性的倒退，是民主的结果，不是民主的失败.台湾的发展从来就不是顺风而行，风愈大我们愈要走，我们要永远跟人民站在一起，衷心地为台湾祝福，我们相信人民，也相信台湾.' He had ended his political career graciously.


[台北实景 a scene in Taibei：是‘大中至正’还是‘自由广场’？]

A friend (Yeo) put his personal thought through SMS, '台湾人民终于不再以意识形态投票，为台湾的胜利，台湾的民主欢呼.'

I said he sounded like half of a Taiwanese, he said, '为他们闷了八年了，更为了我们少了那一点点的民主而遗憾.'

Don't worry. The leap year is just a moment of sensation, a moment of excitement. Day after tomorrow life will be back to normal.

The Leap Years

Watched THE LEAP YEARS played by Wong Liling, Joan Chen, QiYuWu and Ananda Mathew Everingham. It is a Singapore's love story based on a novel by Catherine Lim. The story talks about a young Singaporean girl having chance upon her special someone on 29th February. She decides to base her intuition on an Irish leap year tradition that no man will refuse any request of a lady and invites him out for a date. Together, they embark on a romantic journey that spans over 12 years, meeting only thrice in 12 years, on the leap year.




THE LEAP YEARS was one of the best local films I have seen so far. The film is not up to the standard of a Hollywood nor a Hong Kong movie. But the story is engaging based on modern sensibilities. The English is natural and real which has moved away from Jack Neo's singlish dialect comedy. THE LEAP YEARS would probably capture some of the fascinating sensibilities and the essence of life in contemporary Singapore.

It happens that the Taiwan president's election also falls into the leap years. Today is the fourth direct election for the President of Taiwan. Either Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Frank Hsieh or Kuomintang (KMT) nominee Ma Ying-jeou will end the Ah Bian's era.



Still remember quite well how Ah Long's rather comical way of laughing over himself for how naive he was in those younger days. He was a supporter of the Green Pan. The day that he received his pay envelop, he rushed to listen to the DPP speech and accidentally dropped his full month salary into the collection box. Apart from staring at the envelop being covered by more and more cash, he couldn't do any thing extra. He went home to ask for pocket money from his mother. They scolded him for gambling. No one believed him that he had accidentally "donated" his monthly income to the Green Pan.



Who is Ah Long? He is not the Loan Shark. He is the tour guide that helped me to explore Taiwan based on modern fascinating sensibilities. He even pointed to a shop at XiMengTing(西门町), saying that was where the great pretty LinQingXia(林青霞) was discovered and started her big screen career. True of false? probably only Lin would know better. Nevertheless with Ah Long, my recent tour of Taiwan was a memorable one.

沙岩下的故事

野柳的沙岩长期受到台风巨浪的侵蚀，形成蘑菇状。沙岩的生命并不长久，菇茎会逐日缩小，菇头会倒下去。油尽灯枯，这是自然的规律。




想起一个自然的规律下引申的故事，发生在芸芸众生中的故事。





年底发了花红，姐妹二人开开心心地买了大包小包的，双手一点空档也没有，尽兴而归。回到家楼下才猛然记起，糟了，今晚电梯维修，怎么上八十楼去啊？

姐妹俩你望着我，我望着你，最后决定一步一步地走上去。

好不容易走上二十层，两人气呼呼的，几乎软成一团，坐在那儿，互相埋怨。埋怨到头来，还是得想个办法啊！

哈！真糊涂！这公寓大家都挺熟络，治安良好，没人会把这把这大包小包拿走的。把全身的包袱放下，明天早上电梯维修好了再下来拿不就行了吗？于是姐妹俩空着手，一口劲就爬上了五十楼。

在五十楼往外望，世界变得渺小。妹妹说。

不。 姐姐不苟同。眼内有尘三界窄，心头无事一床宽。大或小只取决于个人的心境，所处的位置，采取的角度和时空的距离而已。

妹妹想想也不无道理。横看成岭侧成峰，远近高低各不同。不识庐山真面目，只缘身在此山中。说的也正是如此。其实姐妹俩趣味相投，见解一致，是应该互相扶持，一起走完这条路的。刚才真不该吵了一架。




两人在互相扶持互相勉励下，终于完成最后一程，可以进屋子里好好休息了。两人高兴地给了一个five。

紧接着两人的脸色都变了。钥匙放在包包里，留在二十楼！

如果楼梯代表人的一生，二十代表青年，包包代表梦想，五十代表人生历炼，那么八十就是该好好休息怡情的时候了。可是在二十岁的时候嫌那包裹太沉重，把梦想都放弃了，到老的时候回首前尘，还能无所憾吗？

你和我是不是芸芸众生中的一份子？