Food fight!

Cool, Taiwan made world news again. :unamused:

Reuters posted this under the heading “Oddly Enough News.” USA Today and others posted it under the heading “Offbeat.”

[quote]Lawmakers in Food Fight Over Arms Budget
Tue Oct 26, 2004

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A food fight erupted in Taiwan’s parliament on Tuesday as lawmakers quarrelling over a massive arms budget hurled their lunch boxes at each other.

“You’ve got no shame!” screamed Chu Fong-chih of the opposition Nationalist Party, after throwing a take-out box of chicken and rice at Chen Tsung-yi, a legislator from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party who backed the special budget. Chen responded by accusing Chu of sympathizing with Taiwan’s arch-foe China, and flung his own lunch box at her.

Taiwan’s parliament is notorious for fistfights, with many lawmakers enjoying the media attention when scuffles break out. Chairs and shoes have also been known to fly across the chamber on occasion.

Legislators were meeting on Tuesday to decide if a proposed $18 billion budget to buy weapons from the United States should be put on the legislative agenda for Friday. [/quote]
wwwi.reuters.com/images/w148/amdf739372.jpg

[quote]One minute they were sitting in a conference hall having lunch, engaged in a strongly worded discussion about international arms sales.

The next minute it was the lunch that was doing the talking, as the island’s lawmakers hurled rice, meat, vegetables and even hard-boiled eggs across the room.[/quote]
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3954847.stm

[quote]TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)

I was listening to them talk about it on the radio while I was driving to work this morning. The news anchor joked that things like are common enough in Taiwan that they probably have a budget set aside for cleaning up after the fights.

Does anybody think that this causes problems with other countries taking Taiwan seriously? I’m not trying to start a fight. I’m wondering if they are doing themselves a dis-service when this makes international news.

It should. Can Taiwan’s government be trusted to act responsibly with its weapons when they can’t even discuss the subject like responsible adults? Next time PRC bans an A-Mei commercial will Taiwan retaliate with Patriot missiles?

It’s not like this is the first ridiculous incident from Taiwan. Read the articles on this incident and you’ll see Taiwan’s lawmakers already have a reputation for such stuff. And think back a few months and recall how the world laughed at Taiwan for alleged presidential self-assasination conspiracy theory. I received e-mails then from several people back home wondering what’s the deal with Taiwan.

Joining the WTO was a big step for Taiwan towards joining the rest of hte world, but they’ve got to quit acting like this if they want to be taken seriously by outsiders.

Disgraceful. Is it possible to go visit these legislators in their offices and ask them what the hell they’re doing? I’ve been paying taxes here for years and years now - paying these jokers’ salaries, and I’d like to give them an earful.

It’s like the segment in the movie CAT IN THE HAT from the Dr Seuss book last year, now on DVD, that includes a quick scene of Taiwan pols fighting it out in Parliament. Now it’s lunch boxes. Will Taiwan’s pols never grow up? It’s shocking, shocking.

and what about the waste of all that good jitui fan…that’s the real tragedy here…

The people of Taiwan deserve much better representation than the oafs they currently have occupying the chairs now.
Despicable and ignorant behaviour such as this confirms what fools they have elected.
Hopefully this will further illustrate this to them.

That’s assuming they care about what outsiders think. The more relevant question: do you think any of the jokers involved will fail to be reelected in a months time? I don’t (or at least, this won’t have adversely affected their chances much) :unamused:

Maybe, just maybe, the reduction in the size & makeup of the legislature will get rid of the worst idiots…

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]The people of Taiwan deserve much better representation than the oafs they currently have occupying the chairs now.
Despicable and ignorant behaviour such as this confirms what fools they have elected.
Hopefully this will further illustrate this to them.[/quote]

But the point is that they did elect them. So you could say that the kind of representatives they have in the legislature reflect their electorate. Whenever I point out ridiculous things like this to my Taiwanese friends, they just shake their heads and say, “This is just the way Taiwan is.” Very few people care, nor do they care about how they’re viewed by the international community, which is sad. The most pressing concerns for most are the latest cell phone models and $$$. Let freedom ring … :unamused:

True, Taiwan deserves better. But unfortunately it is a democracy now - who are you going to blame?

Thus the argument that the tutelage period of Taiwan society was not long enough before the democratic reforms.

Clearly, Taiwanese are a bunch of dumbasses.

Well, at least the a… of my wife is quite responsive and not dumb.

Seriously, Taiwan people seem to have a total different attitude. Most, including my wife, seem to see the politicians as show people. They do not understand why they cause such great damage to their country by behaving like this.

The only thing many people in other countries ever get to know about Taiwan are the occasional Taiwan strait escalations and riots in parlament.

Clear what people think what this is here.

I wonder if taking all cameras out would make a difference?

It would move the fights out in front of the legislature - in front of the cameras, that is.

If I were in the government I’d campaign for a law that requires licenses for not only video cameras but loudspeakers as well. You’d have to prove you could operate one responsibly before you could buy the damn things:

“Planning to film crazy protesting legislator guy? Sorry. And we’ll just take that fake blood, ok?”

“Sorry, you’re singing off-key, no more amplified karaoke for you. Back to the showers with ye!”

Might make a difference.

What would really make a difference, maybe, is if there was a new rule that fined such behavior, like around NT$1 million, payable by the individual(s) or his/her/their party…and donated to a non-profit welfare association like an orphan’s home etc.

Throwing water, throwing food, throwing reports, anything like that, a big fine.

But then again, this being Taiwan, nobody really cares, least of all the electorate. Did you see the other lawmakers in that room smiling when it all happened, like it’s a big joke?

Thank God nobody was eating stinky tofu. There might have been fatalities.

cheers,
DB

I caught this on the local KABC news in Los Angeles last night. Funny stuff. :laughing:

I watched it on local TV out of Charlotte, NC. Don’t you just love the fruits of 5,000 years of culture?

:bravo: :laughing: :bravo: :laughing: